May 7, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1427

NAIROBI, May 6: A leading Kenya tea plantation grower defended on Saturday a decision to use machines to pluck tea, saying figures of massive job losses quoted by labour unions were exaggerated.

Kenya’s main labour union has threatened to disrupt operations at the big plantations if they do not rescind a decision to mechanise plucking of tea.

Leading plantation grower James Finlay (Kenya), which has 52 hand operated machines in use on its estates, dismissed union claims that large tea estates were on the verge of declaring some 80,000 of their employees redundant.

The grower, which said it was one of two large estates to use plucking machines, said Kenya’s wage levels were the highest among tea producers in Africa.—Reuters