Tea-picking machines no threat to jobs- court

Farm workers use tea picking machines at a tea farm in Nandi Hills in Nandi County. [Kevin Tunoi/Standard]

Tea farms have been given room to breathe following a Court of Appeal decision that found no harm in tea-plucking machines.

A two-judge bench found that no redundancy of workers has been caused by the introduction of plucking and pruning machines in the farms.

The judgement may have brought to an end the fight between Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union and tea estates over the adoption of new technology.

In a case that has dragged on since 2006, judges Kathurima M’inoti and Agnes Murgor dismissed an appeal by the workers union, saying if redundancy was to be the case, then the law is clear on such a move.

“In this appeal, we have noted that the adoption of machines by the respondents in their operations did not, and has not resulted in any redundancy. This appeal, therefore, is bereft of merit and is hereby dismissed with costs to the respondents. It is so ordered,” read the judgement delivered on July 13.

Ministerial order

The genesis of the contention was an order by then Minister of Labour Newtone Kulundu to have the machines withdrawn after a threat from workers to go on strike.

Two tea firms, Sotik Tea Company and James Finlay Limited, subsequently moved to court on June 8, 2006, to seek a judicial review to quash the order as they questioned the minister’s powers to issue the directive.

They said the order interfered with the mechanisation of their business even as Mr Kulundu argued that his order was in line with the law.

The High Court granted the companies leave to commence judicial review proceedings and directed the leave to operate as the stay of the minister’s order.

“It is common ground that use of that technology by the respondents has continued unabated to this day,” read the Court of Appeal judgment.

The judges found the minister’s order unnecessary and said there was no legitimate basis upon which the minister ordered the respondents to withdraw the machines.

“Even if adoption of technology was going to result in redundancy, there was a prescribed procedure to protect the rights of the workers, which could easily have been invoked,” read the judgment.

Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli has in the past called for the outlawing of tea picking machines.

“The machines have lowered the quality of tea. County governments through county assemblies must ban the use of tea picking scissors and other machines.”

According to the agricultural workers union, at least 10,000 workers have lost their jobs since the machines were introduced in counties that heavily depend on the tea estates, including Nandi and Kericho.

But Kenya Tea Growers Association Chief Executive Apollo Kiarii dismissed the reports of workers being fired as untrue.

“There is no single worker who has been rendered redundant by any tea factories in Kericho county and beyond,” he said in May.

He said the tea companies were reducing their workforce through natural attrition.

“What is happening is that when an employee decides to resign, dies or is sacked due to misconduct then the company will not hire another person but rather use the machine to execute the role of the employee who has left the company,” said Mr Kiarii.

He also clarified that one machine is operated by four workers, contrary to reports that one machine would replace 600 workers.

“The world is moving towards agricultural mechanisation in order to create efficiency and better terms for workers. For instance, a tea plucker will only manage to take home Sh532 per day since they can only pluck 40 kilogrammes while a machine can do 150 kilogrammes per day - not forgeting that the same machine is operated by four workers,” he said.

During peak seasons, multinational tea companies harvest up to two million kilogrammes of the green leaf a day.

Last year, tea firms in Kericho, Nandi Hills and Limuru suffered heavy losses occasioned by a workers’ strike over pay.

According to industry sources at the time, the month-long labour unrest cost companies at least Sh150 million.

The workers were demanding a pay increase of 30 per cent. Big farms such as James Finlays, Unilever, Nandi Tea Estates and Sotik Tea were most affected.