A ‘Decent Cuppa’: Worker Power and Consumer Power in the Sri Lankan Tea Sector

Abstract

Consumers are increasingly seen as playing an important role in global labour governance through the establishment of voluntary certification programmes that promise better economic and social conditions for workers in global value chains. In the Sri Lankan tea sector, however, these private forms of governance (Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Certified and the Ethical Tea Partnership) at best have no effect and at worst are associated with indecent forms of work. Rather, conditions of work are defended by powerful trade unions that exercise structural power via their strategic position in the value chain and associational power through links with political parties and residual ethnic ties within and between nation states. It is evident that through close collaboration between the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the tea sector unions, workers are able to leverage institutional power through both national and international labour standards to reinforce decent work for those at the very bottom of the global value chain.

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“…International labour Conventions have been layered on top of varying national and industry-specific systems. In this regard, the ILO has played a pivotal role in facilitating the development and ratification of labour Conventions by nation states, 1 but also as a representative and legitimate public authority that gives support to private regulatory initiatives (Niforou 2014;Thomas 2021). In addition, international institutions like the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU) have become increasingly important in developing norms, guidelines and procedures to complement existing legislation, government policies and various forms of private regulation, including codes of conduct (see, for example, OECD 2018).…”

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“…Le SGT du secteur du thé au Sri Lanka peut certainement prétendre à ce rang. En effet, il se caractérise par un dispositif légal rigoureux, et par une convention collective liant 23 entreprises et 3 syndicats, qui bénéficient de l'appui constant de l'OIT, ainsi que de l'assistance des autorités quand les négociations salariales sont dans l'impasse (Thomas, 2021). En outre, on observe au sein du système un fort degré de coordination, tant avec…”

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“…In a similar agricultural setting, in this case tea plantation pickers in Sri Lanka, Thomas (2020, this volume) also charts the progress of social dialogue, characterized as relatively ‘soft’ regulation with a relatively low power base, that originates in an alliance between local unions and the ILO rather than the lead firm. Thomas (2020, 1) argues that trade union intervention allied with the engagement of the ILO, provides the basis of institutional power that allows unions to leverage not only international standards but also national regulation. In common with other critical studies, Thomas (2020) finds little direct evidence of the efficacy of consumer‐driven, private, voluntary regulation in this context (e.g.…”

“…Thomas (2020, 1) argues that trade union intervention allied with the engagement of the ILO, provides the basis of institutional power that allows unions to leverage not only international standards but also national regulation. In common with other critical studies, Thomas (2020) finds little direct evidence of the efficacy of consumer‐driven, private, voluntary regulation in this context (e.g. through the Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Certified and the Ethical tea Partnership).…”