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Observe
International Tea Day: A Joint Call
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On every 15 December tea-producing countries across the
world observe International Tea Day to draw attention of
governments and citizens on the impact of tea trade on workers,
small growers, consumers and industry. In India, a joint
call was made by stakeholders including tea related trade
unions and small producers to recognise International Tea
Day - a day dedicated for the rights of workers and small
growers in the tea industry. We appeal for your support
to make this joint call a success.
Join hands to observe 15 December as the International Tea
Day
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What
you can do ...
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1.Join the Tea Day event in your region/locality;
contact tea trade unions and small grower organisations'
for further information.
2. Organise a meeting or an event expressing solidarity
with workers and small growers, who produce tea for
us.
3. Demand government policies that protect the interests
of tea workers and small growers.
4. Demand for an International Commodity Agreement
on Tea.
5. Write to your MP and government asking for policies
that safeguard the interest of the producers and consumers.
6. Be a part of the Tea Day by signing the joint call
letter by trade unions, small tea grower organisations
and civil society organisations.
7. Promote tea: 'Tea is a health drink'
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The Call
| 15
December has been recognised as International Tea Day
by Trade Unions, Small Tea Growers and Civil Society
Organisations across 11 tea-producing countries in the
world to draw attention of governments and citizens
on the impacts of tea trade on workers, small growers
consumers and the industry. In India, stakeholders including
tea related trade unions, small producers and related
civil society organisations recognise international
tea day as an event to declare their rights pertaining
to wages, livelihood and living conditions. We, a collective
of Central Trade Unions, Plantation Workers Federations,
Small Tea Grower Organisations and Civil Society Organisations,
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recognising in India; |
(a)
The tea sector, among the highest employment provider,
sustains more than 1 million people as workers,
majority women, and small growers in the country,
(b)Tea workers, in the country, are emigrant population
of different ethnicities and religious minorities
from most vulnerable sections of society, and small
growers are subsistence farmers,
(c) There is disproportionate value accrual at the
higher end of the value chain which is never passed
on to the consumers and producers and workers,
(d) The concentration of power by brands and retailers
is increasing the deprivation and vulnerability
of the primary producers and workers,
(e) The burden of 'crisis' in tea industry is unjustifiably
passed on to workers and small growers, which is
not reflected in the profitability of the industry,
(f) The governments are abdicating their responsibilities
in the regulation of production, pricing of tea
and the welfare of workers and small growers,
(g) The tea industry can sustain its workers and
producers and acknowledging the need for a global
response
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internationally; |
(h)
The uneven value accrual at the higher end of the
value chain (i) Absence of mechanisms to ensure
the redistribution of the benefits of trade to workers
and small growers
(j) The is a highly fluctuating market for tea mediated
by market forces and
(k) The unprecedented and prolonged fall in prices
of the primary commodity, market manipulation, and
in the context of reorganization of the industry
and global trade under WTO,
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call to observe International Tea Day on 15 December
to declare the rights of the workers and small growers
in the industry. We appeal you all to use this occasion
of International Tea Day on 15 December to add momentum
to your continuing struggles for the rights of workers
and small growers in the tea industry through possible
interventions |
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Signed Memebers
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Ashok Ghosh
General Secretary,
United Trade Union Congress (UTUC)
Chitta Dey
Convenor
Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers
Jalpaiguri
Samir Roy,
Convenor,
Defence Committee for PlantationWorkers Rights,
West Bengal,
General Secretary,
West Bengal Chai Mazdoor Sabha, (HMS),
West Bengal
Vazhoor Soman,
Vice President,
All India Federation of Plantation Workers (AITUC),
Peeremedu,
Kerala
P.T. John
General Secretary Plantation Working Class Union
(PWCU )
Bijoy Gopal Chakraborti
Convenor
United Forum of Small Tea Growers’ Association
of West Bengal,
West Bengal
Cheniram Kanikar
President
All Assam Small Tea Growers Association
Assam
M. A. Peter
President,
Wayandu Tea Producers Marketing and Processing
Cooperative Society,
Wayanadu
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K. Thangachan
President
Wayandu Tea Producers Marketing and Processing
Cooperative Society, Wayanadu
P. J. Thangachan
Member Advisory Board Salisbury INDCO,
Gudalur
Satyajit Bardolai Chairman, Assam Small Tea
Growers Cooperative Society, Dibrugarh,
Assam
Debasish Paul
United Forum of Small Tea Growers’ Association
of West Bengal,
West Bengal
Alex Kozhimala,
President Small Tea Growers Association,
Idukki
Kerala
Fr. Jose Vattakkuzhy
CBCI, Labour Secretary CBCI Centre,
Ashoka Place,
New Delhi
J.John,
Executive Director
Centre for Education and Communication (CEC)
New Delhi
Madhusree Banerjee,
Programme Manager,
Oxfam Trust New Delhi
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View the list of peoples who signed the joint call
-Page 2
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Express
Solidarity with Tea Day by adding your name in this joint
call
Add Me
or
by sending a mail to itd2006@labourfile.org
with your Name,Organization name and Address
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