Trade unions in Sri Lanka say a quarter of a million tea plantation workers have joined a non-cooperation exercise to lobby for higher wages, BBC online reports Thursday.
Employers say they are concerned that production and exports will be affected.
Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is the worlds fourth biggest tea producer, after China, India and Kenya. But a marked slowdown after a severe drought has now gripped its largest tea estates, most of which lie in the hills.
Three large trade unions have announced what they call a “non-cooperation exercise”. Workers are still picking the tea – but they are preventing it from leaving the plantations. It is all to push for higher pay – they want to almost double the minimum daily wage to about 4,50 US dollar (ca. 23,50 DKR).
Ramiah Yogarajan, national organiser for the Ceylon Workers Congress, a political party which has traditionally represented Tamils working in the plantations, said that “since 1992 the plantation companies were privatised, and from 1992 to 2002 poverty in the plantations increased from 22 to 32 per cent”.
Tilføjelse u-landsnyt.dk:
Te-plukkernes kummerlige forhold blev belyst i en dokumentar af reporteren Tom Heinemann, bragt på DR TV tidligere i år.
