Uncertainty of the informal estate worker

The profound reflection of Confucius that “Insecurity is worse than Poverty” could not be truer in the context of many plantation workers in smallholdings in the Kandy district.

In an attempt to assess the socio-economic status of the estate workers who fall into the category of non-regular/casual workers, The Kandy Times Business spoke to workers in several locations. Plantations fall into three categories – state owned, owned by large business companies and those owned by private individuals or small companies.

Sivalechchimi is 55 years and has single-handedly brought up her family of five. She cannot even remember the estates she has worked in. Sometimes she has moved for a higher daily wage and other times work has been terminated. Her situation and the interview with her was typical of the sentiments of several others; the gist of the conversation was as follows:

Sivalechchimi (S): “I don’t know why, Kangaani got angry and said get out”

S: “The big boss (meaning the owner) doesn’t talk to us, we have to do what Kangaani says. Sometimes he likes younger women and gives them work stopping us, older women.”

Apparent aspects of insecurity faced by these workers:

An interview with Lasanda Kumari, a young mother of an infant of four months who works in a 28 acre block of tea owned by a private individual was as follows –

Lasanda Kumari (LK): Fortunately my mother-in-law doesn’t work, so she cares for the baby.

LK: Creches are only for the government/company owned estate workers.

LK: We don’t get ‘feeding time’ so I had to wean her off breast milk in a month.

LK: We are not entitled to maternity leave or sick leave, we get paid for the days we work only.

Rajeswari and Kumari too were in a similar situation. Insecurities faced by the young mothers:

These two interviews speak volumes on the status of job security of the estate workers in small estates. Workers attached to estates belonging to State Plantations Corporation (SPC) and some of the company-owned estates are entitled to EPF/ETF contributions, healthcare facilities, crèches, holiday pay and most importantly, they have voice representation because they belong to trade unions.

They are regular workers belonging to the formal sector with job security but what of the hundreds of informal workers in the estate sector who can be ‘hired and fired’ because their employment has no legal binding, there are no terms of contract and they have no voice representation?

Most employers of casual labours do not pay EPF/ETF although the law requires them to. There are absolutely no benefits such as healthcare or childcare but people are forced to work under these circumstances until they get a ‘lucky break’ in finding employment in a bigger estate that offers more security.

Basic security is a recognized, global, human rights responsibility and socio-economic insecurity arises from poverty and the fear of losing income. Sociologists and economists tell us that various forms of social and economic insecurity have grown everywhere. In low income countries there has been little progress in constructing policies and institutions for providing even modest social protection to the vast majority of the population.

There are conditions that are inter-related which are crucial to basic security. Without rights at work there can be no social dialogue; without social dialogue there can be no sustainable employment and growth cannot be achieved; without social protection and rights at work, employment could degenerate to exploitation in the workplace.

In South Asia millions are trapped in poverty, they are not unemployed, they are known as the working poor and statistics show that Sri Lanka has its share of the working poor, a large proportion of whom are in the estate sector.

Social income which contributes towards income security is not just the wage one receives but also includes benefits. Benefits comprise of benefits provided by the employer, by the state and a worker’s private income and any other income they may get. A poor, non-regular worker earns an irregular wage and benefits from the employer and private income are not often there.

This column was able to interview two owners of tea small-holdings in Kandy and these are some ground realities that deter employers from offering benefits to non-regular workers:

Employer (E): We too have our side of the story – these casual workers do not come to work regularly, they are not dependable and go to work elsewhere if they get a few rupees more.

E: Yes, only for the workers who have been with us for at least one year. It is not worth our trouble of going through all the paper work for a worker who remains with us for three months.

E: Not feasible. As it is, most of these workers do not come for work 50% of the time; they will take maximum advantage of the benefit.

Employers face a real problem in that they cannot find males to work; 90% of their labour force consists of women over 50 years of age. The emerging trend is that males prefer to find jobs in Colombo or other urban areas where they can earn more.

Advantage of Non-Regular Workers

One apparent advantage casual labour has over the regular worker is, that they stop work by 3.30 p.m. the latest, whereas the regular worker goes on sometimes even until 5 p.m.

We hear the term ‘vulnerable poor’ referred to often in dissertations of economy and sociology and this column researched the term to arrive at a simple understanding of the phrase. Vulnerability and poverty are not the same but strongly inter-related. Vulnerability addresses issues such as lack of coping mechanisms to face external shocks that lead people to poverty. Poverty increases vulnerability. Defenselessness and not having the means to cope with external aspects without incurring loss defines internal vulnerability. With loss, the poor becomes physically weaker, further impoverished and socially dependent/humiliated which has a negative psychological impact.

Catch 22 situation

Vulnerability is closely linked to deprivation, ill health and malnutrition. The poorer people are, the more they depend on physical work and as such, higher the cost of inability to work due to illness or accidents which is the reality in the lives of estate workers. When they are ill or disabled, they are faced with increased medical costs and loss of earnings which will also result in delayed treatment further deteriorating their condition – a catch 22 situation!

Coping Strategies

A typical phenomenon is that women always take the lead in coping with external shocks like accidents, illness, funerals, etc. Since there is no social safety net for the non-regular estate workers, given below are some of their coping strategies:

Selling/Pawning jewellery

Shanthi came as a young bride with 43 sovereigns of gold jewellery; eight years down the road of marriage to her husband who is a kangaani, she has nothing, not even her thaali, she said sadly.

Women went overseas for employment to pay for medical expenses, improve businesses, build houses and pay back loans but often remittances are used for daily consumption needs and the women had to continue overseas employment for much longer than envisaged. Kanageswari had gone to Abu Dhabi when her daughter was four years; now the girl is fourteen and they still do not have the type of house she had dreamed of.

Informal Support Mechanisms like ‘cheettu’

Women have support networks at community level that assist them in times of difficulty. Amara is waiting patiently for her turn of the ‘cheettu’ which is still many months ahead, to buy a cupboard because they now keep their clothes in cardboard boxes and due to the wet weather often the clothes become damp and gathers mildew, sometimes they even have to be discarded.

Housing Security

Most non-regular workers employed by smallholdings live in houses provided by the state or companies. Almost all families in the areas visited had decent housing and access to potable water because at least one member of the household worked or had worked for a state/company owned plantation; Jeyaram and his wife Padmalatha live in a neat little house which is a benefit they have received from the state as Padmalatha was a tea plucker in an estate belonging to the SPC. Although she does not work for the SPC anymore, they are not evicted and they feel secure. Most workers interviewed in the area had a sense of security about housing.

Old Age Income Security

Finally, The Kandy Times Business spoke to estate workers about their old age income security. More than 50% had not given the matter any thought and had no idea about future income security.

On asking them to consider the issue a large proportion of them said they expected income support from children and relatives and about 25% of them said they hoped to continue working as long as possible to support themselves.

When people in poverty and need go through each day with a will to survive, they demonstrate enormous resilience and courage which is estimable – and the focus has been on a community that the Sri Lankan economy depends on.

Therefore, it can be concluded that policy reforms are required to address issues such as – minimum income assistance, healthcare, pension schemes, unemployment / disability benefits, family /childcare benefits to provide greater job security to workers who contribute so much to the national income.