With a 23 per cent dip in tea auction prices, plantations in south India, which contributes 42 per cent of the exports from India, are facing a tough time, experts say.
This time of the year, in the peak harvest season at the lush tea gardens in Kerala's Munnar district, an army of women line the plantations, diligently plucking leaves and stowing them onto trucks. But for the last one week there are none.
Nearly 5,000 women who work at the tea plantations have gone on strike demanding higher wages and bonuses. The Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company or KDHP, the largest tea estate in Munnar which employs nearly 11,000 workers, is among the worst hit.
"It's been very disappointing. If things continue like this, it will be difficult to run the company. Despite our losses, we gave them a 10 per cent bonus," said Mathew Abraham, the managing director of KDHP.
A few kilometres from the tea estates, angry women have blocked roads for over a week now. Among them are Ramalakshmi and Vanmati, in their fifties, whose family members have worked at the gardens for three generations.
"Even carpenters get better wages than us. What can we get in Rs 200 per day?" asks Ramalakshmi sitting quietly with the protesters. Vanmati who plucks at least 21 kgs of leaves every day says, "We won't stop our protest unless we get a 20 per cent bonus and Rs 500 wages per day."
Industry experts say with a 23 per cent dip in tea auction prices, plantations in south India, which contributes 42 per cent of the exports from India, are facing a tough time necessitating cuts that could affect over 3.5 lakh workers.
Gilbert D, former head of the association of tea workers in Kerala says, "The commodity exchange market has been failing us. The future is very grim. If this mismatch continues, most of the companies will get into a serious problem with cash flow. The taxes are very high and in Kerala wages are much higher when compared to productivity."