Tweet
We spent two days meeting with tea workers and their union in Kerecho and Naidu, Kenya — working for multi-national tea manufacturers Unilever and Findley. As we drove through the tea region, it was like a never-ending labyrinth or a giant green maze of plants.
When we got to the union office in Kerecho, Kenya, union officials were elated to see the staff of the Solidarity Center. Over the last couple of months, more than 6,000 tea workers joined the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU). To help them win more members–and continue to grow–the Solidarity Center provides resources to hire organizers, conduct trainings, and offer communications and transportation support, according to KPAWU branch secretary Joshua Owuor Maywen.
The union, despite having more than 200,000 members in the agriculture sector and representing some of the most vulnerable workers, has still lost density over the last two decades. During this time, companies are trying whatever they can to cut costs, including implementing child labor, mechanizing the plucking industry–according to one of the workers: "the machines pluck everything including snakes and spiders, while the tea pluckers pluck tea"–and hiring casuals or "temporary" workers at lower wages and reduced benefits.
The union is actively fighting against child labor–they’re playing a role in the implementation of international labor standards required under the Fair Trade rules, including monitoring of union plants. The trickiest part is that they are losing union density in the industry – with new plants and factories popping up outside of the main tea areas to provide stiff competition for the Kenyan tea market by undercutting costs using child labor and low wages.
Stay tuned for more stories of workers struggles as we visit Solidarity Centers all over Africa.
Follow Bernard and Danielle’s travels throughout Africa by visiting www.BorderJumpers.org
