Tea Workers in Kericho, Bomet and Nandi reject Browns Tea Plantation outsourcing plans

Tea farmers busy at work on a farm. [File,Standard]

Tension is brewing in the South Rift tea belt after workers under the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU) rejected plans by Browns Tea Plantation to outsource key jobs within its estates in Kericho, Bomet, and Nandi counties, effective October this year.

The workers, through KPAWU Kericho branch executive secretary Dickson Sang and his Bomet counterpart Jared Momanyi, accused the Sri Lanka-based multinational of orchestrating a backdoor retrenchment scheme designed to weaken the rights of unionized tea workers.

The union leaders claimed that at least 3,000 out of the 10,000 employees in Browns Tea estates have already been forced into Voluntary Early Retirement after their positions were declared redundant.

"This will erode workers' hard-earned efforts to safeguard employee social and economic rights. We are informed that precarious Kericho tea investors will take over operations effective October," said Sang.

He argued that outsourcing contravenes the global Sustainable Development Goal on decent work and economic growth, adding that it will directly undermine job security, subject employees to lower wages, deny them sick and annual leave, and curtail career growth.

"Bringing on board private contractors risks exposing workers to situations similar to those exposed by the BBC on sexual exploitation and child labour," Sang warned.

Momanyi accused Browns of disregarding its Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with KPAWU.

Momanyi further alleged that the company had sacked 20 managers and replaced them with Sri Lankan expatriates.

"The Immigration Department must investigate whether these foreigners have genuine work permits. Why import expatriates while Kenya has its own tea experts?" he posed.

In a letter dated September 19, 2025, Browns Tea Plantation Chief Executive Officer Rajiv Bandaranayake invited permanent employees to apply for Voluntary Early Retirement or Voluntary Separation.

"Employees interested in taking up this invitation will be required to submit a formal application through their line managers by the end of the day on September 21, 2025," read the notice.

The retirement package includes gratuity at 2.5 times monthly pay as per the CBA, one month's salary for every completed year of service, notice pay, monetization of accrued leave days, and a one-way bus fare in accordance with the CBA.

However, KPAWU insists the company is using the offer to push workers out before replacing them with outsourced labour, a move the union vows to challenge in court if not reversed