For a number of tea producing countries, export is of a great
importance. There is however, a worldwide crisis in the sector. Because
of over production, tea prices in the world-market are historically
low. As such the problems worsen where the tea producers have for
decades already dealt with bad working conditions, such as low wages,
child labour and forms of forced labour, environmental problems such as
pesticide-pollution and land degradation (erosion and deforestation).
Whereas the crisis especially hits employees at tea plantations as well
as small tea producers, (multinational) tea companies benefit from the
low raw material prices, which are not passed on to consumers. Special
interest groups of producers and plantation employees in the south,
call for structural changes.
SOMO examines the specific properties of this sector, especially the
influence of international trade and distribution on the production
process and the production circumstances in developing countries. Also SOMO has kept an eye on the developments in the coffee market for years
and has been involved with the formulation and implementation of
initiatives in the area of ‘fair coffee’ and corporate social
responsibility in the coffee sector.
Tea & Coffee News
31-10-2011
Workers picking tea for Unilever in India and Kenya are subject to precarious working conditions and labor rights violations, even though this tea carries the Rainforest Alliance certificate. This is an important finding from the report ‘Certified Unilever Tea. Small cup, big difference?’ that SOMO and ICN are releasing today.
14-05-2009
At the Unilever shareholders’ meeting today, the Dutch trade union FNV, the international trade union for food workers IUF and other interested parties, such as VBDO, raised the issue of the working conditions of workers in Pakistan, India and Kenya.
14-09-2007
During a workshop in Darjeeling (India) the key economic, social and environmental issues that need attention in the global tea trade were discussed by more than 50 civil society organizations, academics, trade unions, industry representatives (plantations and small-growers).
