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.