WORKERS SATISFACTION ON THE FACILITIES PROVIDED BY THE TEA PLANTATION COMPANIES –WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO KERALA STATE

Tea plantation sector which requires labour throughout the year, the nature of work needs and the involvement of both the male and female labour force. Plucking of tea leaves is an important activity and is a specialised job done by the female workforce in India. The tea plantation workers come in the category of 'wage labourers' and they are distinctly different from peasants and other industrial wage labourers in these countries. The workers involved in tea plantations is basically migrant labour. Satisfaction level of the workers represents a combination of positive or negative feelings that workers have towards their work. The study aimed to ascertain the satisfaction levels of tea workers employed in tea estates located in Kerala. The present paper aim to identify the facilities offered to them, and ascertain the job satisfaction level of the workers in tea estates in Kerala . Furthermore, the findings show that the majority of the respondents were illiterate, and were employed in the process of plucking the tea leaves, as this activity generates a major chunk of the revenue for the tea estates. It is identified that the factors such as Work Allotment and Relationship with Co-workers, Support and Reward, Safe Environment, Compensation, and Training and Development influenced the levels of job satisfaction significantly. In addition, it was also found that four factors, that is, Disability, Workplace Environment, Pay and Conveyance, and Work Timings were the highly problematic factors causing dissatisfaction among the workers employed in the tea estates.