Tea pickers lose jobs to machines

Cafédirect has tweeted that tea pickers in Kenya are losing jobs to machines. More than 800 tea pickers have been sent home after a multinational company in Kenya introduced tea picking machines. The workers of the Eastern Produce Tea Company in Nandi were ordered to vacate company houses immediately and those defying the directive were warned that they would be arrested and charged with trespass. The company’s decision protests from the Kenya Plantation and Agriculture Workers Union (KPAWU).

A top manager at the tea company told a government official that the firm had cut spending by half since it started using machines in some tea estates. He praised the machines, saying they could be manned by a few people and dismissed union leaders’ concerns that the quality of tea could be compromised.