Promoting Cluster Development Through Decent Work: The Case of the Surat Diamond Processing Cluster

Many commentators have been calling for a better theoretical integration of social and economic aspects in development models, one that recognises the input decent working conditions has on sustainable growth. This chapter discusses the decent work and growth implications of the crisis which hit the Surat diamond processing cluster in 2007-08. Deeply dependent on the global, especially Western market, the Surat cluster was badly hit by the crisis, with devastating consequences for poorly protected workers. Hundreds of thousands lost their jobs, and many never returned once demand picked up, creating a new crisis for the industry, this time one of labour shortage. However, by 2011 there were indications that the industry was recognising that decent work deficits, such as inadequate social protection, were not in the interests of its long term development. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the establishment of decent work should be scaled up to the national level, thereby potentially improving productivity and wage levels, and thereby also the domestic sales prospects of industries which might be reluctant in the future to depend on Western markets. Finally, the need for a better integration of social and economic aspects in conceptual models is affirmed.