McLeod Russel's estates and tea workers at the Behora Tea estate

In a short documentary film for the BBC aired on 15.09.15. reporter Justin Rowlatt described in detail what is happening with the tea industry in India and the conditions of tea workers. In the region of West Bengal, in Doomur Dullung tea is grown by a company called McLeod Russel, this company supplies tea to PG Tips, Typhoo, Fornum and Masons to name a few. it is a big company and has been providing tea for many years.  Tea is indeed big business and certainly in the UK has been a national drink for centuries. However, after watching this documentary I am now in the process of weaning myself off tea because I refused to buy a product  from a company who's workers are essentially in life servitude to a company which does not look after them. Alas the last bags of my PG Tips have been used, while I search for an alternative. I found PG Tips is owned by the multinational company called Unilever who are ultimately responsible.


Tea workers in this area of Assam should be protected in law, they have rights and conditions set in law but in India law and rights can't mean much at all. The tea companies provide housing for their staff, but this housing is atrocious. Rowlatt showed one worker who lived in a hovel like hut, it had only two rooms and six adults lived there.  The floor was mud. The outside toilet had long decayed and was of no use.  If they needed to piss or shit they now go into the tea fields and do it. I guess human excrement must also add to the flavour in some way.  A worker receives about £1 per day for their time, but they are expected to do long full days.  They have no facilities to wash and the water supply is a shared outside source in an area which is mosquito ridden. 

At the Behora Tea estate where Justin Rowlatt went he was accosted by the plantation manager. A pot bellied man who hostilely told Justin he should not of been interviewing workers or filming at the workers living areas. stating they were private areas. Even though Justine read out to him the right he had under the Indian Tea Act.  It was with arrogance the manager imposed himself. For here was one of the rich men, someone who did not have to piss or shit in his own back garden. The manager had a dozen men around him and invited Justin to his office. This was an error as they found themselves illegal held there and were not allowed out when asked. Eventually they were able to leave, but the arrogance of the McLeod Russel operative showed a company who bullied and ruled over their employees with a rod. 

Employees who had to spray plantations were not wearing protective clothing, yet the chemicals they used could be be fatal with long term use. In plantations even children were working. The utter poverty of India comes out in this instance. People do what the have to in order to get from one day to the next. When the children of these employees are taken to hospital the first thing the hospital must do is treat them for malnutrition because they just do not have enough food to eat. In a losing battle after initial treatment they go back home to the same poverty ran tea estate they slave away for. 

As for us the consumers, well, we read labels on boxes, things which indicate the tea companies are ethical, or rainforest compliant and words such as sustainable growth are used, but we never know and understand the full story behind what has been purchased. The green credential we get to read and see are there to make our conscience feel better and to hoodwink us into believing we are not just buying a wonderful product we are being good to the environment. Oh how marketing plays so much on our own ignorance and as it does so the marketing wins out. 

As I've said here, my tea consumption will now be radically changed, I am not going to add to the profits of companies who see their employees as slave labour and have no regard for their rights.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-34173532