Sri Lankan plantations are under investigation by international ethical label groups after an expose found illegal wage deductions were leaving some workers taking home as little as 26 rupees (14 US cents) a day.
In an investigation of nine Rainforest Alliance-certified tea estates by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, daily earnings were found to be widely cut by more than three-quarters for debt repayments, salary advances and several other fees. Six of the estates were also backed by Fairtrade.
Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade both said they were investigating the findings as deducting wages without workers’ consent was not allowed by law and contravened their standards, Reuters reports.
The Minister of Plantation Industries, Navin Dissanayake, said he “disagreed” that workers’ wages were being halved.
See more from Reuters: Tea label giants vow probe after Sri Lanka labor abuse expose.
