Angry Workers Ground Work At Tole Tea Estate

By Walter Wilson Nana & *Chantal-Fleur Skaehr

For two weeks running, workers of Tole Tea Plantation, near Buea in the Southwest Province, have neither plucked a single leaf nor switched on any machine in the tea-processing factory that has existed since 1954.They duly report on duty at 6 o'clock every morning; hang around in clusters until noon, and then go their respective ways, to do subsistence farming.

Tea transporting trucks parked now for two weeks

Hard by, some 500 hectares of the tea crop are growing wild, and by the workers' own estimation, 20.000kg. of this cash crop are lost daily.The workers' grievances are many. They include what they claim is a 50 percent slash of their wages without justification, and the fact that leave dues for 2003, 2004 and 2005 have not been paid.

The about 300 of them who constitute the work force in this plantation, have insisted that they can only return to work if and when these and other claims are resolved.

Tole is one of three plantations inherited by Cameroon Tea Estates, CTE, from the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, thanks to a privatisation transaction in 2002. Some 300 workers, which CTE maintained, have blamed the series of problems besetting them on the government of Cameroon.

Aaron Berum, Store Keeper, Tea Store, said when the government was handing over the management of the tea to CTE, no fixed guidelines or management regulations accompanied the transfer. He said privatisation was aimed at improving the living standards of the workers.
 

"The sanitary conditions are horrible. People are living here by the grace of God. An epidemic may break out any time. The situation is very bad," he said.Berum said the current atmosphere reigning in the plantation is not new. "We have written to the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Prof. Robert Nkili.

He came to Buea and promised that he will call back and seek solutions to our grievances. We have sent delegations to Yaounde; nothing has been done. Workers have decided that if the company does not want to operate the way other companies do, then, they stay at home and work in their individual farms," he said.

Hannah Lynonge, Tea Plucker for 26 years, corroborated her colleague. "We are not happy with the management style of CTE. Health services have been stopped; workers are arbitrarily laid off, workers are no longer categorised and remuneration is not commensurate with the amount of work done."

Lynonge said production was on the increase and wondered why management was treating them with disgust. John Cho Ache, technician, was not indifferent. "In Tole, we do not have problems at the level of staff. There may be minor problems but we have abundant production. The sales are doing great. There is the market out there. We do not understand why we cannot be paid.

"Initially, we thought that it was the immediate management but we realised that the problem is with the headquarter in Douala. We are grounded because of poor management from headquarters. Our boss, Alhadji Baba Danpullo is not ready to do any good to us in Tole Tea Plantation. We do not know our crime" he lamented.

Ache was frustrated with what he thought was the dilly-dallying attitude of CTE management. "Deaf ears to everything. Promises have never been respected. We do not know whether we are human beings or not.

There is no peace of mind with the workers."We have been told that payments will be made Friday, March 10, but with the slippery attitude of CTE management, we are not convinced something will happen. However, since we believe in God, we still have some flicker of hope."

The technician said his three-year give-away bonus expected from CTE was worth FCFA 500,000. "After three years, nothing has come in, because of the manner in which the corporation is operating. The government of Cameroon is not ready to solve the problem in Tole Tea Plantation. They have given deaf ears to the workers out here," he said.
Ache expressed fears of hopelessness.

"There is no future, no hope with Tole Tea Plantation. Our children no longer go to school. People are laid-off without accompanying benefits. Even the permanent workers are in dire-straits," he said.

However, he prayed for a change of attitude if the management style also changes. "Things may come back in place. We are all ready to work, make our plantation the best," he said.

Ache was also advisory. "There are problems everywhere. Communication and dialogue should prevail. CTE should take a look at the problems of the workers. If not, he would be losing, and we too. We do not pray for the closure of our plantation. It is a source of income for the people out here. A closure will create more problems.

The management of CTE should stand up and do something," he requested.Lynonge appealed to Baba Danpullo to come and commune with his co-workers. "We are his workers. Why is he afraid of us? Most of us do not know him. We have never seen him."
Contacted by The Post, CTE Plantation Manager, Mbeng Tanyi, declined to comment on the on-going strike.

But the Head of the Health unit who preferred not to be named, said the medical section was on standby in case of any eventuality. We are permanent workers; we have no problems. Management speaks on our behalf. However, we have sympathy for the striking workers. They are striking for all of us."

The Current Atmosphere

For some two weeks, the whole place has been unusually quiet. Boisterous tea pluckers are absent from the fields. The factory isn't rumbling. Worst still, management isn't talking to workers.

"We decided for a sit-down strike. We do not destroy anything in the factory or in the fields. Initially, some workers did not understand what was happening. So, we had to go to the fields to force those who were working to join the strike action. The intention was to get a unique response to the strike action," Joseph Manoji Mbole, general labourer, said.

According to him, the "blacklegs" were quickly made to understand that a collective strike action would be for the good of all. "…We quickly brought everybody to reason. Now, nobody goes to work. Even the Plantation Manager was cautioned not to open his office," he said.

Who Is Losing?

Mbole was rather diplomatic. "The pains are for us all. Let the management of CTE come and solve our problems before work can proceed. We do not have any regrets. The fields are now overgrown. Death rate has increased in our plantation since CTE took over. In three years, more than twenty people have died here," he said.

Berum saw CTE and the government of Cameroon at the losing end. "The workers have nothing to lose. They are into their normal farming. Much has not changed. When we work for CTE, their pay packet is nothing to write home about".He expressed regrets that the weather station ceased functioning since December 31, 2003.

"No reading has been done. In the era of CDC, it used to be beneficiary, even to the academic community within and out of Buea. Students came from the Universities of Yaounde, Douala respectively to get data on the yearly rainfall, sunshine and more.

"CTE is no longer interested. It was a barometer for CDC to measure the growth or decrease of tea production. They will determine whether it was as a result of excessive rains or sunshine and vice-versa," he explained.

The Problem In Tole

Mbole blamed the current atmosphere reigning in their plantation on a divide and rule system put in place. "Considering the diversity of tribal groups working in our plantation, there is a huge manipulative machinery at work here."

He said a similar strike action in Djutissa was quickly arrested. "Their own problems have been looked into. Their leave dues have been paid for the third time. They have resumed work," he said.

Berum found the non-payment of their social insurance dues, deducted from salary as an affront to them. "CTE management does not pay our social insurance dues, whereas, this money is deducted from our wages. Our money, worth FCFA 21 million paid to the credit union via CTE is not forwarded," he fumed.

Down Memory Lane

In 1928, the Germans planted the first tea crop in Tole. The factory was built in 1954. Before October 17, 2002 when it ceased to be CDC, the work force ranged between 700-800 people. With the coming of CTE, staff strength has been cut down to some 300 people today.

Tole Tea Plantation has a land surface of 500 hectares, second to Ndu Tea Estate.
*Journalism Student On Internship

Comments

[rexon]

This criminals of la republique francaise du cameroun. They cannot even pay their workers, they have duped southern cameroonians through the colonial government of la republique du cameroun. they undervalued their assets and they bought it for give away prices. Now they cannot even pay wages and salaries to our poor parents. This criminals working for european colonialists and imperialist. we will see how it goes, we will see if you will not die one day. This criminals, they are the ones financing the colonial government, so that they can buy for give away prices all the assets of la republique du cameroun. You can buy our assets through the colonial government, but you cannot buy our concience. You will run when the time comes, when our independence comes.

[LenaRasmussen31]

I propose not to hold off until you earn enough amount of cash to buy all you need! You should just get the credit loans or just collateral loan and feel fine