Tea Estate Workers In Sri Lanka

The recent demands were initially tied to the country s parliamentary election cycle.

Tea estate workers in sri lanka. It was planted in the royal botanical gardens in peradeniya kandy. It is the fourth largest tea producer in the world behind china india and kenya. Get the latest breaking news and top. This is when the tea industry is among sri lanka s main source of foreign exchange earnings.

Oct 03 news click on september 25 hundreds of tea workers in nuwara eliya district of sri lanka went for a strike to raise their complaints against the regional plantation companies. Sri lanka s tea estate workers began in april to vocally demand an increase in their wages from 620 rupees 4 14 a day to 1 000 rupees 6 68 a day. Tea plantation workers wear gunny sacks due to a lack of proper uniforms as they prepare to start work in the nuwara eliya district of sri lanka on feb. For three years now sri lanka s tea estate workers have been agitating for a daily basic wage of lkr 1 000 a tea estate worker in the dambatenne tea plantation in haputale uva province.

A tea factory in sri lanka is typically a multi storied building located on the tea estate to minimize the costs and time between plucking and tea processing. It sustains the livelihoods of the majority of the estate population in sri lanka. Various studies have found that tea estate workers are the most impoverished community in the country. The tea leaves are taken to the upper floors of the factories where they are spread in troughs a process known as withering which removes excess weight in the leaf.

The british owned tea plantation industry was nationalised in 1970s and then undergone several administrative changes and now it is manage by the private companies. Sri lanka s tea history. Smuggled from china by the british in 1824. The workers have long pushed for more money.

It s said that the first tea plant was brought back i e. But tea workers remain mired in poverty. Sri lanka currently produces around 300 million kilograms of tea annually. Sri lankan tea estate workers agitate for better pay sat oct 3 2020 08 01 pm sl time colombopage news desk sri lanka.

Tharaka basnayaka nurphoto via getty images. Sri lanka s tea industry saw a sharp decline since 2014 which has been exacerbated by the covid 19 pandemic. The changes were attributed a significant impact on social life of the estate workers.