Tea
Driving through winding roads high above in the Western Ghats mountain range in Kerala, the air is cool, damp, and misty. In the middle of what feels like an endless fog, visibility is almost none. Suddenly, there is a break in the mist, and there in every direction is a vista of rolling hills covered in tea trees.
Munnar has some of the most elevated tea plantations in the world. Commercial production of tea in India began as an attempt by the British to break the Chinese monopoly on tea. The British East India Company took over large areas of land, that were converted for mass tea production. Presently, 70% of the tea produced in India is consumed in India itself.
Munnar has some of the most elevated tea plantations in the world. Commercial production of tea in India began as an attempt by the British to break the Chinese monopoly on tea. The British East India Company took over large areas of land, that were converted for mass tea production. Presently, 70% of the tea produced in India is consumed in India itself.
As you drive along the winding roads, you can see dotted figures of plantation workers collecting tea leaves. Get a little closer, you can hear rhythmic sounds of hollow snips amongst rustling brushes. Tea trees can grow up to 4 meters tall, but they are kept short to make leaf picking easier.
All of the leaf pluckers are women. Women do most of the labor-intensive work like tea leaf plucking and carrying heavy loads which result in various health issues in the long run. They are also underpaid. Each woman must collect a minimum of 13kg of leaves a day, however, they usually collect between 100kg and 120kg of tea leaves a day. The average salary of a tea plucker is about $8 a day, which is lower wages than men.
All of the leaf pluckers are women. Women do most of the labor-intensive work like tea leaf plucking and carrying heavy loads which result in various health issues in the long run. They are also underpaid. Each woman must collect a minimum of 13kg of leaves a day, however, they usually collect between 100kg and 120kg of tea leaves a day. The average salary of a tea plucker is about $8 a day, which is lower wages than men.
At Kannan Devan Hills Plantation Limited, the wages were even lower. During 2015, a 9-day protest took place on the pretext of the company’s decision to reduce the worker’s bonus from 20 percent to 10 percent. The movement was spearheaded by women workers which went on to become a registered all women’s trade union called Pombilai Orumai, Women’s Unity.
Pombilai Orumai not only fight for inequality in wages but for working and living conditions. The majority of the women were non-unionized working-class, Tamil migrants. Even though the Plantation Labour Act makes it necessary for the employer to provide accommodation, medical care, education and daycare facilities to the workers and their families, it was carried out poorly. The lack of these facilities forced women to devote all their time outside the plantation work in childcare, fetching water, cooking, etc.
Pombilai Orumai women also spoke openly about the family structures that uphold power imbalance in the favor of men which has made it socially acceptable for men to spend all the hard-earned money on alcohol. This financially bound the women from education for their children and access to health care facilities.
Pombilai Orumai’s collective identity helped women to forge solidarities on the basis of their shared lived experiences of oppression by the social structures of gender, class, caste, and region. They have also inspired other women workers to protest for their rights in other districts in Kerala such as Idukki and Wayanad.
Pombilai Orumai not only fight for inequality in wages but for working and living conditions. The majority of the women were non-unionized working-class, Tamil migrants. Even though the Plantation Labour Act makes it necessary for the employer to provide accommodation, medical care, education and daycare facilities to the workers and their families, it was carried out poorly. The lack of these facilities forced women to devote all their time outside the plantation work in childcare, fetching water, cooking, etc.
Pombilai Orumai women also spoke openly about the family structures that uphold power imbalance in the favor of men which has made it socially acceptable for men to spend all the hard-earned money on alcohol. This financially bound the women from education for their children and access to health care facilities.
Pombilai Orumai’s collective identity helped women to forge solidarities on the basis of their shared lived experiences of oppression by the social structures of gender, class, caste, and region. They have also inspired other women workers to protest for their rights in other districts in Kerala such as Idukki and Wayanad.
