Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

the price of tea

muke munki & uncle | 28.06.2004 05:39 | Sheffield | World

this short film exposes the working conditions of plantation workers in sri lanka

pickers
pickers

tea close-up
tea close-up

standpipe
standpipe


Britain is a nation of tea drinkers, but what goes in to that cup of tea we all love.
Tea plantations are predominately owned by British multinational companies, for example, Finlays, Brooke Bond, Duncan and Duncan.
In Sri Lanka, we recently visited two plantations and were disgusted and saddened by workers conditions.

Tea pickers are women paid 121 rupees (80 pence) a day for collecting 15kg of tea. Shifts are 8am-12 noon, 2pm-4pm, tea collected is weighed per individual and the worker is paid accordingly, ie, fast pickers can earn an extra 3 rupees per extra kg (1.5 pence). Though 65% of tea plantation labour workforce are tea pickers they account for only 30% of the total costs of production.

Pickers carry bags supported by the head causing neck and back strain [see pic 1], there is no sick pay. A cycle of poverty is maintained by company operations. Housing and small/shared plots of land are given to workers for agriculture, a system not dissimilar to that of feudal landlords. One plantation had a small basic health clinic and creche facilities. However another had no such service. A dispensary was reported to be in the village which gives paracetomol and 'coloured water' for every ailment.

So called 'Lines' plantation housing, seen by the company as a workers benefit, was inadequate and overcrowded. 4 or 5 houses in a block can house up to 40 people in extended families, each house no bigger than an average British garden shed. These families live in squallor with little sanitation -- one toilet per block, and one outside tap [see pic 2], with an unclean water supply.

Workers earn barely enough to feed/clothe themselves. A diet of rice and vegetables is only affordable. A bag of rice costs 45 rupees (nearly half a days wages). Fruit is too costly, meat and fish is eaten once a month on pay day.

Tea plantations are in mountainous areas where the climate is cold (and wet during the monsoons). All the children I met were full of cold and coughing. Poor health, poor diet, cold/damp housing and working like dogs all day, some workers resort to drinking 'arrack' a coconut spirit, to warm themselves. Alcohol abuse is reported by company supervisors to be the downfall of these people. Workers cannot AFFORD THE TEA THEY ARE PICKING, BEING GIVEN THE DUST SWEEPINGS OFF THE FLOOR from the lowest grade tea.

The major union representing planatation workers is the Ceylon Workers Congress. It has had ministerial postions in 4 governments since 1977. Its leaders live like kings in Colombo (capital of Sri Lanka) whilst the workers live in squallor.

This film highlights the exploitation of these workers but also shows attempts to organise new fighting unions. One way to fight the corrupt CWC has been to try to develop plantation workers centres providing free education and basic healthcare.

You can help the plantation workers centre by:

financially contributing to the plantation workers centre -- this is not an NGO and and will be run by workers and the union

paying a visit to the multinationals involved -- drop by their offices for a chat, buy a share and tell the shareholders how it is

ask your union to get hold of a copy of the film to show at your next meeting/conference (using the email address below)

if you have an 'indy' film night contact us for copy of the film and have a collection

The tea we drink in Britain is the lowest grade tea, blended for instant teabags, and we pay extortionate prices. So who's making the money and screwing us all, workers and consumers??


contact  plantationsupport@riseup.net


mpeg1 copy of the film available for download/distribution in 2 weeks or so

Munki&Muke Sheffield IMC, UK
Uncle, Australia

muke munki & uncle
- e-mail: plantationsupport@riseup.net

Comments

Display the following 3 comments

  1. No improvement in 20 years — GL
  2. video available — r7
  3. AVI 20Mb version — Chris

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech