West Bengal tea garden atrocity

Lew:

Well, this news came to the local newspaper yesterday and today. According to this article in BBC.com my understanding is the tea gardens are hiring new labourers to replace some existing laborers who were probably trying to bargain for their rights (which 9 times out of ten are never taken into consideration by the owners). They are feeling threatened. If they lose their jobs then it will be difficult for them to survive and feed their families. That's why this pathetic incident happened. I think, they need to try to provide some basic rights (better wages including back pay and overtime pay which is usually late or not given, medical facilities, better working and living conditions, maternity leave, work on a contract basis rather than oral commitment -- this makes it very easy to fire people, etc. etc.) with the exisiting labourers who's financial and social situation is very tenuous.

Talking about trade unions, there are always two groups: one which really represents laborers and another which just works for the owners. The latter are almost always very connected to political leaders. This is an old traditional culture in south Asian politics. For this kind of practice, the rights of labourers are always jeporadised. The labour union leaders get hefty benefits from the owners by not fighting for the mass labourers' rights. These labour union leaders are praised by owners and sometimes by the government. This way the real labor rights movement always fails. I think for this kind of frustration many incidents happen and will continue in the near future. Some serious solutions are needed in the tea gardens where labourers will get fresh water, clean toilets, fair wages, a fair working environment, decent living conditions, good medical facilities, etc. Thats all I can say right now. I would love to know what other readers think about this issue.

Ripon (From Bangladesh)

Thanks for the background information. I think it's appalling that the workers are treated so poorly. I'd gladly pay more for my tea if I thought it would mean better conditions for the workers. I try to support tea merchants who consider the labor and environmental practices of the tea producers. Strand Tea Company

Agalena

"Agalena" wrote in news:cA0rb.142524$Fm2.124912@attbi_s04:

I've noticed the term "fairly traded" here and there since I first got curious about yerba maté, and now tea. I typed "fair trade" into Google and came up with some interesting links, but I'm not sure where to begin with it all. Also, typing "fair trade tea" into Google serves up more than a quarter-million links, so therein might be some useful information.