Hard times for tea workers as factories cut costs

Thousands of workers in the tea industry could lose their jobs as multinationals implement cost-cutting measures following an acute shortage of green leaves caused by sustained drought.

Workers are facing hard times as factories introduce cost-cutting measures, including the sackings to sustain operations. The situation has been complicated by poaching of raw materials.

Kenya Plantation and Agriculture Workers Union (KPAWU) has taken issue with the tea firms for laying off some of the workers and reducing working days and hours, noting that they are flouting the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Union Assistant Secretary General Henry Omasire said on Tuesday, January 21 that workers at Sotik Tea where the firm is paying rates lower than minimum daily amounts per kilogrammes of green leaf harvested are the hardest hit.

“As a union, we are ready to institute legal action against tea firms that flout the CBA to exploit workers by offering them low pay now that there is low green leaf due to the effects of drought,” said Mr Omasire.

Also Read: Kenya posts slowest Q3 economic growth since Covid pandemic

According to the CBA on green leaf supply, a worker who is engaged in leaf harvesting shall be paid not less than the daily rates applicable to the tea industry, provided that all the leaf is plucked and bushes maintained to the satisfaction of the management.

The mechanical tea harvesting operators are to be paid a minimum monthly wage of Sh20,710.

“The cost-cutting measures add to workers who are grappling with high cost of living, Housing and Social Health Authority levy, among other tariffs and it is high time the tea firms abide by the CBA guidelines,” said Mr Omasire.

Some tea companies have been forced to prune the crop and lay off workers to cut down on operational costs due to declined yield for the past four months after a prolonged drought that spells doom to the production of cash crops.

Fears of declined yield for such industrial crops as tea, coffee, pyrethrum and sugarcane are confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture, which has attributed the projected decline in production of the cash crops to dry weather for the past few months.

“The decreased rains will hurt the development of such cash crops like tea, coffee, sugarcane, and pyrethrum in the region,” stated the annual agricultural report released in January.

Also Read: Great news for tea growers

According to the Tea Directorate, cumulative tea production has in the past four months declined by 5 million kilogrammes – from 140.98 million to 135.83 million due to adverse weather conditions.

The country’s overall tea production stood at 459 million Kgs (2019), 490 million kgs (2018), 437 million Kgs (2017), 473 million Kgs (2016) and 399 million Kgs (2015).

Some of the tea firms in the region have, however, introduced a wide range of strategies to survive cutthroat competition for green tea leaves to sustain smooth operations.

Among the approaches by some of the firms include an increase in prices for the green tea leaves, introduction of mini-bonuses, provision of transport for collection of the produce at farm gate level, and enriched Corporate Social Responsibility among others.

“The biting drought and construction of additional tea factories have created an increased demand for green leaf, resulting in the firms adopting marketing strategies to sustain a steady supply of the raw material,” said Mr Samuel Lang’at, a farmer from Saos, Nandi County.

Whereas some tea firms have increased their prices to Sh26 per kilo with Sh2 going for transport services, others like Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) are offering Sh20 per kilo and an average bonus of Sh29 in the latest bonus payment.

“Some tea firms have quarterly bonuses and created additional collection centers to entice farmers to supply them with tea leaf,” said Mr Lang’at.

Also Read: From boom to gloom: Why tea bonuses have lost their flavour

Other firms are paying a fixed rate of Sh23 per kilo with the relaxed requirement of plucking two leaves and a bud while offering to assist farmers in managing their tea bushes by supplying them with fertiliser and herbicides.

“What the farmers need is an increased price of tea to an average of Sh50 per kilo to enable them to break even and sustain productivity,” said Joel Ng’eno from Chepkumia, Nandi County.

More than ten factories are operating in the region, resulting in stiff competition for the tea leaves.

Most multinationals have mechanised their tea harvesting process, which the workers’ union claims has resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs that has hurt the local economy.

“The machines consume less fuel and are managed by one person who can do the work of more than 20 tea pickers, cutting down on the cost of production by a greater margin,” said a director at one of the tea companies, who spoke to confidence as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Most tea companies pay tea pickers Sh15.50 per kilogramme of green leaves and the operation of tea plucking machines cuts down on labour costs. 

Also Read: How corrupt KTDA clerks steal from South Rift tea farmers

The workers operating tea machines are paid Sh4 per Kg as compared to Sh15.50 for the tea pickers.

According to the KPAWU officials, about 60,000 tea workers in Nandi county alone have lost jobs following the mechanization of the tea process.

The education sector has not been spared by mechanisation of the tea harvesting process, with scores of children dropping out of schools and relocating with their parents after tea companies sacked them.

“Most of the classrooms are virtually empty after parents who were workers in tea companies relocated elsewhere. The population of learners in these schools has dropped,” said Wilson Koech, a parent from Siret, Nandi Hills.

The schools affected include Koisagat, Nandi Hills, Kipsamo, Kapchorwa, Kipkoimet, Savani, and Taito primary schools, among others.

[email protected]