Sri Lanka: Workers targeted for resisting imposition of revenue-sharing system, which threatens to reduce earnings
Summary
Date Reported: 23 Mar 2022
Location: Sri Lanka
Companies
Mahanilu Tea Estate (part of Horana Plantations) - SupplierAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported )Issues
Wage TheftResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 23 Mar 2022
Location: Sri Lanka
Companies
Gouravilla Tea Estate (part of Horana Plantations) - Supplier , Tetley (part of Tata Consumer Products) - Buyer , Tesco - Buyer , Unilever - Buyer , Lipton Teas and Infusions (formerly ekaterra) - BuyerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported )Response
Response sought: Yes, by BHRRC
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Tea estate supplied Tea Estate supplied Tetley; Unilever; and Tesco according to the BHRRC Tea Supply Chain Tracker. All companies provided a response to a request for comment from the Resource Centre, ekaterra - Unilever's tea business which was sold to the CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII in July 2022 - also provided a response. Tetley and Unilever informed the Resource Centre that they did not source from the estate in 2022.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 23 May 2023
Location: Sri Lanka
Companies
Horana Plantations PLC - Parent Company , Tetley (part of Tata Consumer Products) - Buyer , Ringtons Limited - Buyer , Stockholm Tea Estate (part of Horana Plantations) , Marks & Spencer - Buyer , Tesco - Buyer , Unilever - Buyer , Lipton Teas and Infusions (formerly ekaterra) - BuyerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported )Issues
Wage TheftResponse
Response sought: Yes, by BHRRC
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: This estate supplied Tetley; Unilever; Marks & Spencer; Tesco and Ringtons according to the BHRRC Tea Supply Chain Tracker and data held by Open Supply Hub. All companies provided a response to a request for comment from the Resource Centre. ekaterra - Unilever's tea business which was sold to the CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII in July 2022 - also provided a response. Tetley, Unilever and Tesco informed the Resource Centre that they did not source from the estate in 2022.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 23 Mar 2022
Location: Sri Lanka
Companies
Fairlawn Tea Estate (part of Horana Plantations) - Supplier , Horana Plantations PLC - Parent Company , Tetley (part of Tata Consumer Products) - BuyerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported )Response
Response sought: Yes, by BHHRC
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: This tea estate supplied to Tetley according to the BHRRC Tea Supply Chain Tracker. Tetley provided a response to a request for comment from the Resource Centre, informing that it did not supply from the estate in 2022.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 23 Mar 2022
Location: Sri Lanka
Companies
Kakutelle Tea Estate (owned by Maskeliya Plantations) - Supplier , Ahmad Tea - BuyerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported )Issues
Freedom of Association , Wage TheftResponse
Response sought: Yes, by BHRRC
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Tea estate supplied to Ahmad Tea according to the BHRRC Tea Supply Chain Tracker; Ahmad Tea provided a response to a request for comment from the Resource Centre, informing that it did not supply from the estate in 2022.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 23 Mar 2022
Location: Sri Lanka
Companies
Alton Tea Estate (part of Horana Plantations) - Supplier , Horana Plantations PLC - Parent Company , Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate - Buyer , Ringtons Limited - Buyer , Tetley (part of Tata Consumer Products) - Buyer , Typhoo - Buyer , Marks & Spencer - Buyer , Tesco - Buyer , Unilever - Supplier , Morrisons - Buyer , Lipton Teas and Infusions (formerly ekaterra) - BuyerAffected
Total individuals affected: 54
Workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported )Issues
Wage Theft , Freedom of AssociationResponse
Response sought: Yes, by BHRRC
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Tea estate supplied to Ahmad Tea (linked to parent company); Bettys & Taylors; Ringtons; Tetley; Marks & Spencer; Unilever; Morrisons; Typhoo; and Tesco according to the BHRRC Tea Supply Chain Tracker and data held by Open Supply Hub. All companies provided a response to the Resource Centre's request for comment. Ahmad Tea, Unilever, Tesco and Morrisons confirmed that they did not source from the estate in 2022. ekaterra - Unilever's tea business which was sold to the CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII in July 2022 - also provided a response.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 23 Mar 2022
Location: Sri Lanka
Companies
Welioya Tea Estate - Supplier , Ringtons Limited - Buyer , Tetley (part of Tata Consumer Products) - Buyer , Teavana (part of Starbucks) - Buyer , Marks & Spencer - Buyer , Lipton Teas and Infusions (formerly ekaterra) - BuyerAffected
Total individuals affected: 54
Workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported )Issues
Freedom of Association , Wage TheftResponse
Response sought: Yes, by BHRRC
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Tea estate supplied to Ringtons; Tetley; Starbucks Teavana and Marks & Spencer according to the BHRRC Tea Supply Chain Tracker and data held by Open Supply Hub. All companies provided a response to a request for comment from the Resource Centre. ekaterra - Unilever's tea business which was sold to the CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII in July 2022 - also provided a response. Starbucks Teavana; Tetley; Marks & Spencer informed the Resource Centre that they did not source from the estate in 2022.
Source type: News outlet
"Attend Sri Lankan estate workers action committee meeting and demand reinstatement of all victimised workers", 23 March 2022
Plantation Workers’ Action Committees (PWAC) from the Alton, Glenugie and Abbotsleigh estates are holding a joint online meeting at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 27 to demand the unconditional reinstatement of all sacked estate workers. A total of 54 workers have been victimised by management and sacked from the Alton, Katukelle and Welioya estates.
The meeting will discuss the escalating assault on workers’ rights, including increased workloads, wage cuts, the so-called revenue-share model, and other measures to drive up productivity.
[...]
Plantation workers have long resisted the exploitative revenue-share system, which distributes a plot of land with 1,000 to 1,500 tea bushes to individual workers on a contract basis. Workers and their families are expected to tend the tea bushes, with some inputs provided by the company, and harvest the crop. The leaves are handed over to the company, which deducts its expenses and profit, with the balance given to the worker as his/her income. When fully implemented, workers lose their Employees Provident Fund and other hard-won rights.
[...]
Plantation companies started implementing revenue-sharing in full last year, after suppressing a series of struggles by workers at estates in Alton in Up-Cot, Katukelle in Talawakelle and Welioya near Hatton. The Horana Plantation Company (HPC) has begun imposing the system at its estates in Alton, Fairlawn, Gouraville, Stockholm and Mahanilu after a brutal assault on its workers at Alton .
In February 2021, police arrested 24 workers and two youth from the Alton estate on frame up charges of physically assaulting estate managers. The witch hunt was launched after workers went on strike for 47 days to demand higher wages and oppose management harassment. The arrested workers now face a criminal court trial. Using the same bogus charges, HPC then summarily sacked 38 workers, who are now struggling to earn any income. ..
A worker from Fairlawn estate said, “Our rights are being removed by management, following introduction of the revenue-sharing system. The water supply system in our estate has completely collapsed and we have to bear the cost of its repair.”
Katukelle estate is managed by Maskeliya Plantation Company. When workers began taking action against higher workloads last September they were targeted in a series of management and police attacks. Eleven workers were sacked and now face court cases.
[...]