This archive report was first published on 8 December 2019.
Kenya's Tea Industry: A Brew of Exploitation ¶
November saw Joel Too lose his right eye while pruning tea at Chemase Estate, a farm owned by James Finlay Kenya Ltd, a subsidiary of the Swire Group of London. The accident occurred when a sharp branch broke his goggles and pierced through his cornea.
Too, a casual labourer, was rushed to Kericho County Hospital, where he was treated. However, he had to foot the Sh20,000 bill and is now partially blind.
Too's case is not an isolated incident. In 2016, he and 285 others were dismissed from their permanent positions at James Finlay after an industrial strike demanding a 30 per cent salary increase. Although the labour court reinstated them, the company appealed, and the court ruled that they should step aside pending the hearing of the matter.
"The company sacrificed a number of employees who were deemed vocal during the strike. Since they still needed our expertise, they then opened opportunities for us to work but on contract at half the amounts we were previously earning and without benefits," said Too, wiping his teary blind eye.
Today, these workers earn Sh300 a day, down from the initial Sh600. The multinational companies have resorted to outsourcing cheap labour to cut costs, hiring contractors who pay labourers between Sh600 and Sh700 per worker and then pay them less than half of this amount.
"The non-unionised members are overworked, underpaid and denied basic benefits, yet they cannot complain because the tough economic times compel them to toil for the meagre wages paid weekly in cash or via M-Pesa," said Dickson Sang, Kericho branch Secretary of the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU).
The union has been fighting for employees' welfare, but the company prefers using contractors who don't belong to unions as a way of trimming the unions' powers.
"James Finlay has rules which contractors should follow when engaging people to work in farms. There are systems requiring them to register workers and ensure they have NSSF and NHIF," said Apollo Kiarii, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Tea Growers Association (KTGA).
However, the Sunday Nation spoke to several employees who said the contractors didn't ask them for any personal details. In particular, those who were declared redundant during the ongoing shutdown of the flower farm said they just had to agree to part with some of the salary or give in to sexual demands to secure the poor-paying job.
"I used to transport flowers but now I am contracted to uproot the same flowers in preparation for the closure. It's so strenuous such that uprooting a single line takes two days. That means you earn a day's salary for two days' work," said Ayiecko Nyabaro, who had worked in the company for over 10 years.
Ms Mercy Chelang'at said that in April 2018, they received a two months' notice of closure and redundancy although the layoffs began in July. "It eventually got to me in September. When I got all my benefits, it was too little to even pay for the cost of transporting my luggage home. That is why I sought a contract," she narrated.
Today, tea multinationals in Kenya operate mainly in Kericho, Bomet, and Nandi, where they control in excess of 300,000 acres. Most of the land leased in Kericho and Bomet, where they hold about 200,000 acres, is paid for at a land rate of 20 cents (Sh 0.2) per acre per annum.
