0:00:01 > 0:00:02He finds degrading and dangerous conditions
0:00:02 > 0:00:06on tea estates that supply some of the world's favourite tea brands.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09You probably drink tea grown here, in Assam, every day.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12But what the big brands don't tell you is what it is like
0:00:12 > 0:00:17for the people who grow the tea.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Their houses are in a terrible state...
0:00:20 > 0:00:22So is that the whole close down there...
0:00:22 > 0:00:22..their
0:00:22 > 0:00:23toilets are worse.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Their working conditions aren't safe and they are paid less even than
0:00:26 > 0:00:34the local minimum wage.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Poverty forces children to work alongside their parents.
0:00:36 > 0:00:47The result - tea plantation workers and
0:00:47 > 0:00:50their families suffer some of the highest rates of the most serious
0:00:50 > 0:00:51diseases of poverty, including TB.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Tea is one of the most popular drinks in the
0:00:54 > 0:01:05world, but are the workers paying the real cost of your daily cuppa?
0:01:08 > 0:01:22You probably drink the famous black tea grown here in Assam every day.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24Think of the full flavour of the average tea bag,
0:01:24 > 0:01:25or English breakfast tea.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27That is a taste of Assam.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32This one region grows half the tea produced in India, but
0:01:32 > 0:01:35we've discovered its idyllic looking tea gardens hide a dark secret.
0:01:35 > 0:01:45Our investigation begins at night.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47This is an estate that supplies Twinings, Yorkshire Tea, Harrods,
0:01:47 > 0:01:54and Fortnum Mason.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57These are what is known as the labour lines,
0:01:57 > 0:01:58this is where the workers live?
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Yes, these are the labour lines.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02Tea plantation owners in India are obliged by law to
0:02:02 > 0:02:12provide and maintain adequate houses and sanitary toilets for workers.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15But this woman shares a small house with six other people and hasn't had
0:02:16 > 0:02:22a working toilet for 36 years.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26I have been telling the managers that we need a toilet ever since it
0:02:26 > 0:02:27broke, but they just don't listen.
0:02:27 > 0:02:42How many times can we ask?
0:02:42 > 0:02:45She told us she has no choice but to go in the tea bushes.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47This is one of the most prestigious tea gardens
0:02:47 > 0:02:51in all of Assam, but it is not just the toilets that are broken.
0:02:51 > 0:02:52This is the kitchen area?
0:02:52 > 0:02:54We were shown houses in terrible conditions with leaking
0:02:54 > 0:03:03roofs and cracked walls.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06He says he keeps complaining that his house is falling down and the
0:03:06 > 0:03:10management said they will come and fix it, but he says they never do.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14If he has been waiting ten years, then that is a long time to wait
0:03:14 > 0:03:21for your wall to be rebuilt.
0:03:21 > 0:03:22This is not reasonable for our people.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25So how much do people earn here for one day's work?
0:03:25 > 0:03:36A crowd has gathered outside the local shop.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39I want to know if the workers here know just how celebrated and
0:03:39 > 0:03:47valuable the tea they grow here is.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52That's from Fortnum and Mason, one of the finest stores in Britain,
0:03:53 > 0:03:54This is really from our garden?
0:03:54 > 0:03:55This is from your garden.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57How many grams of tea are in it?
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Here we have 50 grams of tea.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01This would cost you 750 rupees, in Indian rupees.
0:04:01 > 0:04:02Wow!
0:04:02 > 0:04:13750 rupees.
0:04:13 > 0:04:14This costs 750 rupees?
0:04:14 > 0:04:16What do we get in return?
0:04:16 > 0:04:21We get nothing.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Our roofs are leaking and we can't even sleep at night.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29All we get in return is hardship.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33How long would you have to work in order to buy one packet
0:04:33 > 0:04:37of tea like this?
0:04:37 > 0:04:41She tells me it would take these workers more than a week to earn
0:04:41 > 0:04:47enough to buy this 50 grams of tea.
0:04:47 > 0:04:53We come back in the morning.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56It seems life here hasn't changed much since Queen Victoria awarded
0:04:56 > 0:05:05the area a Royal Charter way back in 1845.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08One of the supervisors on the estate calls the workers, telling
0:05:08 > 0:05:14them what part of the plantation they will be working on today.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16"Don't be late", he orders.
0:05:16 > 0:05:32Tea estates work on a colonial system of payment in kind.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34Under the law that governs estates like this, the Plantation Labour
0:05:34 > 0:05:37Act, plantation owners must give permanent workers a decent home.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39But they take it out of their wages.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42It is how they justify paying people below the minimum wage in Assam.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Tea workers earn just $1.70 a day.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Daylight confirms this plantation doesn't seem to be honouring
0:05:47 > 0:05:59its side of the bargain.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02This man has a water pump, but you wouldn't want to drink
0:06:02 > 0:06:04the water that comes out of it.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07This is where you get your water and this is your toilet next to it.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Can you show me the toilet?
0:06:10 > 0:06:18He has a toilet building.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22What he is saying is that the septic tank for the toilet is full to
0:06:22 > 0:06:25overflowing and they have had to dig this pit and now the waste
0:06:25 > 0:06:27from the toilet flows in here.
0:06:27 > 0:06:37But this is right next to your water supply.
0:06:37 > 0:06:37Is that healthy?
0:06:37 > 0:06:38This certainly isn't.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39The whole place is damp.
0:06:39 > 0:06:50It is like looking up at the stars you can see through so many holes.
0:06:50 > 0:06:58This is the fresh water supply for a family flooded
0:06:58 > 0:06:59by the overflowing cesspit.
0:06:59 > 0:07:00Would you drink from here?
0:07:00 > 0:07:08At least the pigs are happy.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11I'm shocked by how the tea workers are forced to live.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15This area is one of the most famous tea estates in all of Assam
0:07:15 > 0:07:17and we are told the conditions found here are commonplace throughout
0:07:17 > 0:07:20the industry, including at some of the plantations that supply
0:07:20 > 0:07:30the world's biggest tea brands.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32You won't have heard of McLeod Russel,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35but you will almost certainly have drunk the tea this company grows.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38It is the biggest tea producer in the world and these are some of
0:07:38 > 0:07:47the homes it provides for workers.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Its estates in Assam supply tea to Liptons,
0:07:49 > 0:08:00PG Tips, Tetley, and Twinings.
0:08:00 > 0:08:13on the estate we showed earlier.
0:08:13 > 0:08:14Homes have broken roofs.
0:08:14 > 0:08:24Imagine living here when the monsoon comes.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26In other houses, walls are soaking wet.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31There is damp on the walls, you can clearly see that.
0:08:31 > 0:08:32This wall is very damp.
0:08:32 > 0:08:33And this toilet.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35Wow, this place is infested with mosquitoes.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37This place is little more than a slum.
0:08:37 > 0:08:51Every house has visible damp.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Most of them say they just go to the toilet among the tea bushes.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57We had been on the estate for about an hour
0:08:57 > 0:09:00when we get word that the plantation manager wants to speak to us.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02You are the assistant manager?
0:09:02 > 0:09:03We are seeing the manager.
0:09:03 > 0:09:11The estate manager admits there is what he calls a huge backlog
0:09:11 > 0:09:14of repairs.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17What they say is they defecate on the tea bushes.
0:09:17 > 0:09:17Is that acceptable?
0:09:17 > 0:09:18That is not acceptable.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21There is a legal obligation to provide adequate toilet facilities.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24We are proposing it and the company will start to find...
0:09:24 > 0:09:26Would you be proud to take people to the labour lines
0:09:26 > 0:09:30and show people who drink PG Tips or Liptons and show them the conditions
0:09:30 > 0:09:39under which your workers live?
0:09:39 > 0:09:45Would you feel proud of the conditions?
0:09:45 > 0:09:46In some places, yes.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48All of the people are not like that.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51In some lines it is very poor and in other places it is good.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55I don't understand how you can think it is acceptable to have
0:09:55 > 0:10:03conditions that are very poor.
0:10:03 > 0:10:12of how to live, and their literacy.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22of how to live, and their literacy.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25These are the four things that we are trying to improve.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Slowly, slowly doesn't seem consistent with the commitment that
0:10:27 > 0:10:29the world's biggest tea companies make to ethical sourcing.
0:10:29 > 0:10:35Unilever, who own Lipton and PG Tips, advertises its brews as
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Meanwhile the company that owns Tetley tea says it is committed to
0:10:39 > 0:10:50the fair and ethical treatment of people across its supply chain.
0:10:50 > 0:10:59possibly claim not to know about the terrible conditions here in Assam.
0:10:59 > 0:11:09This estate is owned by another giant tea grower,
0:11:09 > 0:11:16and it is half owned by Tata.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19In January last year, a major academic study found breaches of
0:11:19 > 0:11:24the law in relation to conditions.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27It says workers live in cramped and crowded quarters with cracked
0:11:27 > 0:11:30walls and broken roofs.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33It says the lack of toilet facilities has turned some living
0:11:33 > 0:11:38areas into a network of cesspools.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Tata told the BBC it is addressing a number of serious social issues
0:11:41 > 0:11:46on the APPL estate.
0:11:46 > 0:11:54It says it is funding major works to improve living conditions.
0:11:54 > 0:11:55Campaigners say the terrible conditions
0:11:55 > 0:12:04on some estates are the result of the deep rooted culture of control.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07We experience that culture of control first-hand another of McLeod
0:12:07 > 0:12:23Russel's giant tea plantations.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26The right of public access is supposed to enable people to visit
0:12:26 > 0:12:28them to check up on their welfare.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31This estate is owned by a tea company called McLeod Russel.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33We hear the same now depressingly familiar stories of leaking roofs
0:12:34 > 0:12:36and broken toilets.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39This woman is telling me she has never had the toilet or
0:12:39 > 0:12:46electricity when a jeep arrives.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Hello, sir.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51We are from the BBC.
0:12:51 > 0:12:52This is a private property.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54No, this is the labour lines, isn't it?
0:12:54 > 0:12:56This is a private company and a private farm.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58You cannot enter without permission.
0:12:58 > 0:12:59You're trespassing.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01We were invited on to the labour lines...
0:13:01 > 0:13:08But it is a private farm.
0:13:08 > 0:13:09Behave yourself, sir.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13We have every right.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18We can access those parts of the plantation
0:13:18 > 0:13:19where the workers are housed.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21You are not a member of the public.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23I am a member of the public.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26What do you think I am?
0:13:26 > 0:13:29This is the Plantation Labour Act of 1951 that regulates tea estates
0:13:29 > 0:13:33like this.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37It says "access to the public of those parts of the plantation where
0:13:37 > 0:13:42the workers are housed is a right."
0:13:42 > 0:13:45It is wrong for them to try and stop us doing this.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Out of courtesy, we decide to take up his offer to
0:13:54 > 0:13:59discuss matters in his office.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03That turns out to be a mistake.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07When we decide we want to leave, the manager tells us he will not let
0:14:07 > 0:14:11us go.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13You are holding us prisoner.
0:14:13 > 0:14:14You can't do that.
0:14:14 > 0:14:15I am filming.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Stop filming.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19In a statement, McLeod Russel admitted it keeps
0:14:19 > 0:14:21a strict vigil on visitors.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23You have to let us out.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25It says tea estates have been the target of militant activity
0:14:26 > 0:14:27in the past.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that plantation owners
0:14:29 > 0:14:32are anxious about visitors.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Lots of Indians live in dismal housing, but remember tea workers
0:14:35 > 0:14:45have a legal right to a decent home.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Even the association that represents the tea estate owners
0:14:48 > 0:14:53accept that some tea workers are not getting what they deserve.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55She lives in a damp house...
0:14:55 > 0:14:56Have you investigated her name?
0:14:56 > 0:14:57Yeah, we've got her name.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Can you give it to me?
0:14:59 > 0:15:00I'll give it to you.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04We showed him footage of what we had found in the tea estates.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06This is not an isolated incident.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Across the labour lines we found people with similar stories.
0:15:10 > 0:15:16This was from a garden that supplies Harrods, Yorkshire Tea,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Taylors of Harrogate, some of the biggest and most prestigious
0:15:18 > 0:15:22names in the tea industry.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26We can show you our footage.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30We can show you broken toilets.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33The situation is not good, I understand that.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38That is no excuse for having people living in terrible conditions.
0:15:38 > 0:15:46It is not the philosophy of any management for it to be like this.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50Your workers have the indignity of having to defecate
0:15:50 > 0:16:00on the tea plants.
0:16:00 > 0:16:07I will investigate this.
0:16:07 > 0:16:08It is not acceptable.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11This man had to dig his own toilet cesspit.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14These are management lapses.
0:16:14 > 0:16:21Open defecation and cesspools are not acceptable to me.
0:16:21 > 0:16:28But we did not just find bad conditions.
0:16:28 > 0:16:35Alongside the adults, we found this young girl picking tea.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40She told us she was 14 years old.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44There is no food in our house she said.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47She says she has been picking tea for two months now.
0:16:47 > 0:16:53Her father is mentally ill, her mother said.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56We have no choice because she has to work to bring
0:16:56 > 0:16:58in money for the family.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01We met two other girls who said they had been employed full-time
0:17:01 > 0:17:07since their early teens on estates owned by Assam Company.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13At first, the company said it could not work.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15I told them my family has financial problems
0:17:15 > 0:17:19and then they said I could work.
0:17:20 > 0:17:26The UN rules say that no child under 15 should work full-time.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28We found other serious breaches of international standards,
0:17:28 > 0:17:34not to mention Indian law.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Here, workers are spraying chemicals with no protection.
0:17:38 > 0:17:39Assam Company supplies Twinings, Yorkshire tea, Harrods,
0:17:40 > 0:17:46and for Norman Mason.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48The team supervisors said that workers regularly
0:17:48 > 0:17:56suffer side-effects.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00The sprayers should have face facemasks, gloves, and shoes.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03The company sometimes gives us the gear but it doesn't last.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06We have to work without it.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09It isn't long before a manager turns up.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12He doesn't want to be identified but he confirms they are spraying
0:18:12 > 0:18:17pesticides.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21The pesticide is classified as a harmful or fatal poison
0:18:21 > 0:18:25and the official advice is that goggles, a face mask, overalls,
0:18:25 > 0:18:35gloves, and rubber boots should be worn around using it.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Away from the cameras, workers said they almost always had to spray
0:18:38 > 0:18:43without protective equipment, and they frequently suffered
0:18:43 > 0:18:45side-effects including breathing difficulties, numbness in the hands
0:18:45 > 0:18:52and face, and loss of appetite.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Assam Company denied any wrongdoing on health
0:18:54 > 0:18:58and safety or any other issue.
0:18:58 > 0:19:04They said all the allegations made in this film are false.
0:19:04 > 0:19:17McLeod Russel and all the big brands mentioned in this documentary
0:19:18 > 0:19:20We have seen some shocking things on our journey through
0:19:20 > 0:19:24the tea estates of Assam.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27The worst comes at the end, when we visit the local hospital.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32That is where we discovered the deadly consequences
0:19:32 > 0:19:38of the combination of squalid conditions and low wages.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Studies show rates of malnutrition on tea estates
0:19:41 > 0:19:47in Assam are significantly higher than India's abysmal standards.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52The doctors here say virtually all the patients they see from tea
0:19:52 > 0:19:54plantations are malnourished, and the weaker a patient is
0:19:54 > 0:19:59the more vulnerable they are.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02If you have severe malnutrition, then any small illness can be
0:20:02 > 0:20:06a major problem.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10A sign that somebody is malnourished will change the response they have
0:20:10 > 0:20:14for an infection.
0:20:14 > 0:20:24The doctor describes a cycle of malnutrition and disease.
0:20:24 > 0:20:32They come in with a respiratory problem and he gets treated with the
0:20:32 > 0:20:36appropriate antibiotics and dietary advice and we send him back, and he
0:20:36 > 0:20:40goes back to the same environment from which he came, and then he is
0:20:40 > 0:20:41exposed to the same problems.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46Too often, she says, the children died.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Tea workers should be better off than their peers
0:20:49 > 0:20:55because the law guarantees them a decent home and sanitation.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00The shocking truth is that they are worse off.
0:21:00 > 0:21:06That should leave a bitter taste in all our mouths.
0:21:30 > 0:21:30Hello there.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Well, for most of us, it was a wet rather than white Christmas.