international landworker
n By Hajera Blagg
Unite in landmark step to end sex abuse on Kenyan tea farms
Unite and global food workers union IUF are working together with trade union affiliates around the world to put an end to abhorrent sexual abuse on Kenyan tea farms, first revealed by the BBC Panaroma programme last year.
The programme exposed how the tea farms, then owned by British-based multinational companies, Unilever and James Finlay & Co, were sites of endemic sexual abuse of the mostly female workforce.
Workers told Panorama that because there are so few opportunities for work in the area, they had no other choice than to submit to supervisors’ sexual demands or face abject poverty.
One woman reported that she was suspended from work until she had sex with her boss, while another said she was infected with HIV by a supervisor after being pressured to have sex with him.
A BBC Panorama reporter also went undercover to work on the farms. A recruiter arranged a job interview for the reporter, which was held in a hotel room, where a manager asked her to undress and touch him in exchange for a job.
At the time of filming, Unilever had just offloaded its tea business, then called Ekaterra to private equity firm CVC, which later rebranded the business to Lipton Teas and Infusions.
Lipton Teas and Infusions immediately suspended abusive staff identified in the Panorama programme and committed to a full investigation. In May, Lipton Teas and Infusions offloaded several of the Kenyan tea
farms it acquired to another company Browns, which it pledged to work with to grow tea to a new set of standards “covering quality, social and environmental protections”.
The IUF has now agreed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lipton Teas, which will commit the company to recognising the IUF and respecting workers’ rights for its entire workforce worldwide. Crucially, the company has committed to similarly respecting rights for all workers throughout its supply chain, and includes for the first time ever the requirement of an annual worksite visit.
Commenting on the MoU, which was signed in April, IUF General Secretary Sue Longley said, “We believe our agreement will help to improve working conditions and sets a target that others in the industry should aspire to.”
Unite FDA national officer Bev Clarkson, who also serves as IUF president for agriculture, said the MoU would pave the way to stamp out the horrific abuse at Kenyan tea farms and elsewhere.
“We were appalled to learn of the abuse revealed by Panorama,” she said. “As the recognised union at Lipton Teas and Infusions in Manchester, Unite is working closely with the IUF and trade union partners in Kenya and beyond, with a special meeting to be held in September, to ensure such abuse never happens again.”
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Woman tea worker in Kenya 36 uniteLANDWORKER Summer 2024
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