The total number of workers in the country’s leading tea plantation companies has been steady in the past five years, indicating a freeze on new employment in a bid to cut operating costs.
The firms do not plan any retrenchment as staff reduction will only take place through natural attrition, says the Kenya Tea Growers Association (KTGA).
The KTGA says its data shows total staff count at 15 companies it represents, including multinationals, has remained at about 60,000 in that period.
No new pay rise has been implemented during this time under Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) framework with workers union.
KTGA chief executive Apollo Kiarii says the firms have been looking at containing rising staff costs, which he says accounts for 50-60 per cent of total production costs on average.
The firms have been agitating for full mechanisation of farm operations since 2010, claiming this will enhance efficiency and competitiveness of the industry which exports more than 90 per cent of tea produced. This is still before the courts for judicial review.
“We have been clear that the employees who are there, let’s maintain and sustain them rather than drive them out of job and bring them down to poverty,” Mr Kiarii said.
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