Tea is the most widely consumed beverage across the world, and it is expected that the global tea market will reach a value of US$21.33 billion by 2024. India is the second largest producer of tea in the world, after China, and accounts for 21% of global tea production. Over 80% of this production comes from the states of Assam and West Bengal and its tea growing regions of the Brahmaputra Valley, Barak Valley, Terai, Dooars and Darjeeling.

Despite its export significance and flavour profile, the question of low worker wages has been a constant factor in discussions around tea from this region. Tea industry experts stress that the sector is under duress on account of several interlinked factors. But the question of worker wages remains significant and there is growing pressure that the entire supply chain, both domestic and international, needs to act on consistently low and insufficient worker wages.

Against this background, the GLWC commissioned the Anker Research Institute and ISEAL to do a needs assessment aimed at gathering stakeholder views on the readiness to advance on living wages for tea workers in these regions. As a leading knowledge-action partnership, the Coalition has worked over a decade to support the development of credible and transparent living wage estimates in over 50 countries based on the Anker Methodology. These publicly available estimates have been used in several regions and sectors, by governments, industry and worker representatives, to constructively advance dialogue and action on worker wages in global supply chains.

The report ‘Assessing the need for living wage benchmark studies for the tea sector in Assam and West Bengal’, compiles our findings and recommendations from this feasibility study. Its core aim is to inform action by the Coalition, the tea industry, trade unions and other partners interested in advancing the dialogue on worker wages in the region and tea sector. Our goal was to speak to a wide range of stakeholders involved with the region’s tea sector and seek their views on the need and use of living wage estimates.

Our conversations reveal a complex picture with the interplay of stagnating tea prices, rising costs faced by producers, massive expansion of the small grower tea sector and possibly significant policy changes on wages imminently. Despite this complexity, everyone we spoke to – workers, supervisors and managers of the tea estate and factories, large international tea brands and national buyers, and even a government representative – unhesitatingly acknowledged the inadequacy of worker wages in the region to enable a decent living under the current economic conditions. This is the bottom-line situation.

This report shows that there is clear recognition among all stakeholders that the current minimum wage levels for tea workers – in both Assam and West Bengal – are not adequate to support a decent life for workers and their families. It is also possible that with a credible living wage estimation, substantial gaps will emerge between prevailing wages and living wage estimates (with the gap possibly higher in Assam than in West Bengal).

Despite the concerns we heard from a few quarters, the study team and the organisations they represent believe that gathering ground level data via Anker Living Wage Benchmark studies in Assam and West Bengal would be worthwhile to advance the dialogue on worker wages in the region and a vehicle for more transparency around wage discussions. More fundamentally, we believe setting the benchmarks may indeed contribute to solutions that will improve the lives of the thousands of workers who invest so much of themselves in our daily cup of tea – solutions that the entire sector and supply chain need to play a part in delivering. This report therefore recommends that partners proceed with the estimation of Anker Living Wage Benchmarks for both regions, to support transparency and provide the basis for an evidence-based dialogue on wages in the sector.

Read the report here

The post Tea production in Assam and West Bengal: Are stakeholders ready to advance on living wages for workers? appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.

The meeting began with a welcome address by Richard and Martha Anker from the Anker Research Institute, followed by a brief introduction to the Regenerative Production Landscape (RPL) Collaborative in Madhya Pradesh.  Researchers Kuriakose Mamkoottam and Nidhi Kaicker presented the draft report on the Living Wages and Living Income for rural Madhya Pradesh on behalf of the Anker Research Institute (ARI). The report is based on two studies located in the districts of Chhindwara in southern MP and Ratlam in western MP during October 2021 and December 2021. These districts were chosen to be representative of southern and western MP respectively.

After a brief explanation of living wage and income according to the Anker methodology, the Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC) and the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP), Kuriakose and Nidhi shared a summary of the report estimating the living wage and living income for rural Madhya Pradesh. The living income (average of the two study districts) is 2.7 times that of the 2014 national poverty line family income, and 2.2 times the World Bank international poverty line family income. This report demonstrates that families in rural MP earn far less than what is required to afford decent living and that much more work is needed by stakeholders to ensure that workers are receiving a living income.

Get Involved

Sign up for the GLWC newsletter to keep up to date with all upcoming living wage and living income reports, working papers, and other research from the GLWC and the Anker Research Institute. If your company or a company you are affiliated with would like to help support the Institute’s groundbreaking research, learn more about becoming a Corporate Sponsor.

The post Stakeholder Meeting Brings Together Public & Civil Sectors in India appeared first on Global Living Wage Coalition.