Knowledge is Power

‘We have to work in scorching heat, there isn’t any tree shade. When we complain about needing water, sometimes we get it, sometimes not.

‘Then there are issues about the bonus. The management promise 20% - but only 10% is given. There have been a lot of worker uprisings over this, and there have been instances of firing on workers over this issue, including some deaths in the past.

‘When the auditors come, the management tell us: ‘Don’t show up. It’s not for you to see, stay aside.’ So we are warned not to speak to the inspection team.’

Credit: Transform Trade/Helm Studios

Samoni Sawra [not her real name] explains the reality of working on a tea estate in Assam India. From long hours spent picking tea in the heat of the day, to unpaid bonuses, to being warned off speaking to inspectors.

The tea that Samoni and her fellow workers so skilfully pluck forms a vital ingredient in the English ‘breakfast’ tea loved by many in the UK.

But until 2018, UK tea brands refused to say where they sourced their tea. So people like Samoni had no idea which brands they were supplying, and couldn’t complain to those brands – most of whom claim to support the workers in their supply chains.

In 2018, Transform Trade launched the ‘Who picked my tea?’ campaign calling on the big 6 UK brands to publish the names and addresses of the tea estates they buy from. Thousands of campaigners from the UK and around the world joined the call. Together we stood in solidarity with tea workers like Samoni.

Within a year, all 6 of the UK’s biggest tea brands had published at least the list of their suppliers in Assam. Some went further and published their lists worldwide.

Following on from the campaign, in 2021 the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre published their Tea Supply Chain Tracker, showing the suppliers of 20 tea brands. This data can be seen by organisations in Assam who advocate on behalf of tea workers, and shared with the workers on particular estates.

Transparency in the tea sector doesn’t solve everything. But it’s an important step in the right direction towards putting more power into the hands of tea workers like Samoni.