Sri Lanka’s tea plantation workers “with a history of exploitation face hazards including a lack of masks and overcrowded accommodation,” despite tough lockdown measures across the island, Yasmin Gunaratnam writes for The Guardian.
“A caveat on the country’s lockdown order, issued on 20 March, read: ‘Paddy farming and plantation, including work on tea small holdings and fishing activities, are permitted in any district,’” she wrote.
“The Ceylon Worker’s Red Flag Union say coronavirus public health measures mean little on estates, There are no facilities to wash hands with soap during a shift and masks are not always issued, even though it has been mandatory to wear them in public since early April.”
“A pressing concern is living conditions. Accommodation on tea estates generally consists of overcrowded, tin-roofed ‘line rooms’, usually five consecutive rooms in long rooms. Each 30-square-metre room is a household, making social distancing impossible.”
“Today, the work remains physically demanding, with poverty and debt bondage weighing heavily on estate communities.”
“With the pandemic curfew, even basic foods such as rice and lentils have been scarce, and women are struggling more than ever to maintain the health of their households.”
Read the full piece here.
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