CEC India

International Tea Day (ITD): Dec 15, 2015

CALL TO OBSERVE INTERNATIONAL TEA DAY: DECEMBER 15, 2015

TEA INDUSTRY IN INDIA: URGENT NEED FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD CONDITIONS

Millions of people around the world habitually wake up to a fresh cup of tea. Imagine a morning without a cuppa!

To boost the production and consumption of the health beverage tea, it is important that the health of tea industry too should remain robust.

Tea is an export commodity that earns handsome revenues for the Indian government and has potential to generate more profits. This is also the case with other major tea producing countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia. Other countries include Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and China.

In India, the tea industry sustains livelihoods of over 10 million people in tea estates alone. However, workers continue to live in vulnerable situations with wages and income barely sufficient for subsistence living.

For increased production and consumption of tea, it is, therefore, imperative that workers in the tea industry have decent work, decent wages and livelihood security. Global competitiveness can be scaled up only if workers are protected. The small tea growers must get fair prices for

their produce and protection against market vagaries so that they have ability to face risks in terms of climate change, crop destruction and/or other emergencie

This is possible only when the workers/growers’ rights are affirmed by all stakeholders. And ethical, chemical and pesticide free tea reaches consumers.

In a bid to reaffirm their rights and for the sustainability of a responsible tea industry, the Centre for Education and Communication (CEC) urges all the stakeholders to observe December 15 as International Tea Day.

Towards the observance of International Tea Day (ITD), the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association (CISTA), is organising a general body meeting at Siliguri, West Bengal on December 14. On December 15, a seminar is being organised at Siliguri tea auction centre titled, ‘Sustainable Issues of Small Tea Holdings and Its Impact on the Future of Tea Industry’. Over 150 representatives from various institutions such as Tea Board of India, Tea Research Association, Indian Tea Association, Trade Union as well as economists and political leaders would be present at the seminar.

To mark the ITD, United Trades Union Congress is holding a session on at Dalgaon Tea Estate, Birpada, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal which will have participation of workers from 20-25 tea gardens.

India’s proposal at the Intern-Governmental Group (IGG) of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) to observe International Tea Day this year has received support from various countries.

CEC calls upon the Government of India to strongly push for the Declaration of International Tea Day on December 15, every year.

CEC urges stakeholders of all countries to appeal to United Nations and respective governments to formally declare December 15 as International Tea Day.

Taking the momentum forward, the International Tea Day in India can deliberate on urgent issues such as residues, climate change, technology and trends on production and consumption. A few immediate concern areas in India are:

Protection of the land and housing rights of workers in closed tea gardens
Increase in the wages of tea workers
Provision of better sanitation and potable water in tea gardens
Remunerative price to small tea growers for green tea leaves
Implementation of ‘price-sharing formula’ for small tea growers and effective functioning of ‘district monitoring committee’ for implementation of price-sharing formula

Stakeholders’ observance of December 15 as International Tea Day can prove to be positively consequential for improvement and progress of the domestic and global tea industry.

INTRODUCTION TO INDIAN TEA INDUSTRY

Tea sector provides livelihood for 10 million people directly in India. In the present context of agriculture trade liberalization and corresponding fluctuations in prices of primary commodities, income level of the people – both workers and tiny tea growers - witnessed a sharp decline in the sector. Tea sector, for instance, has recorded steep decline of commodity prices and wages in all the tea-producing countries since the agriculture trade liberalization. In the same way there is a corresponding or sometimes incommensurate reduction of wages and other social security entitlements for workers in the tea sector. For instance, cut down of medical and maternity benefits have far reaching implications for workers’ health. Like wise, poor quality subsidized food grains distributed through the ration system in the tea gardens in turn affects the nutritional intake of the workers.

The present crises in the tea sector are mainly due to the structural rearrangements and deflationary policies of the nation states, in line with the WTO trade policies. Subsequently, there occurred a trend of decline of wages and commodity prices; closure and abandonment of large tea plantations; absence and curtailment of existing social security entitlements; withdrawal of state subsidy and the low level of organisation worldwide. The problems have been multiplied with the erosion of the market share of tea in the beverages market and the stagnated consumption in the international market. There has not been a reversal of the benefits of trade to the workers and small producers in the tea sector in the neo-liberal era. Green leaf prices have recorded a steep fall ever since the opening up of tea trade. Similarly, the sector witnessed wage reduction, massive job loss and precarious employment situations in terms of the shift from formal to informal, adversely affecting their living conditions.

Tiny and smallholder segments, which account for the production of 1/4th of the total annual production of tea and comprise around 250000 farmers in India, are facing a situation of distress due to non-remunerative prices for green leaf and financial burdens as a result of lowering of subsidies and absence of support prices. In many cases, tiny growers are both growers and workers who were employed in the closed or abandoned gardens. The raging price fluctuations associated with escalating cost of production and lower yield have put them into debt trap.

To address the situation, civil society organisations and trade unions from the tea producing countries of Asia and Africa came together and formed joint platform when they met in Mumbai and Porto Alegre World Social Forums in 2004 and 2005. The decision to observe an International Tea Day for expressing the rights of workers and small growers was taken at these meetings, accordingly it is observed on every 15th December world wide to draw attention of governments and citizens on the aforesaid impacts of global trade in tea on workers and small growers.

The ITD campaign launched in 2005 by the trade unions, small tea growers and civil society organizations from eleven tea-producing countries of Asia and Africa addresses the issues of living wages for workers and fair prices for tiny and small tea producers. The International Tea Conference in New Delhi came out with an International Declaration on the rights of workers and small growers, covering the principles of living wages, ownership of homestead land for tea workers, tripartite regulatory mechanisms for grievance redress, pricing and monitoring, occupational safety and health, rights of women, employment and social security of workers, trade union rights and regulation of uneven competition. Price stabilization of tea through an International Commodity Agreement for Tea has been taken as the main agenda of international campaign. A research study is being carried out in five tea producing countries, including Kenya, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh on the feasibility of such an agreement in the present trade regime. The Second international tea conference and tea day observance followed up the issues highlighted in the International Declaration.