Tea Strike!

Women on the Line teams up with the Women's International News Gathering Service for this week's show. WINGS producer Smita Ramanathan traveled to Kerala to meet the ‘Pembillai Orumai’ or ‘Women’s Unity’ group. They are women tea worker leaders who led 10,000 people on strike to negotiate for their own wages, hours, and amenities in September 2015. And they did it without the support of their unions. Smita and her team in Bangalore created this show. With thanks to Frieda Werden.  Host(s): Smita RamanathanFeatured Speakers/Guests: Lissie Sunny, President of Pompilai Orumai (women tea workers' union), Rajeswari - General Secretary, Kausalya - Vice PresidentCredits: Produced by Smita Ramanathan (Programme interviews,script, narration); Indu Ramesh, Independent Radio Broadcaster (Programme adviser/mentor, narration); M.R. Ramamurthy, Recording Engineer (Editing, recording); Preeti Edakuuny, Research Scholar (Narration); Manju Venkat, Community Radio Producer and Poet (Narration); and Shubha Vinay, Amateur singer, (Singer)Photo: Pembillai Orumai leaders (from left) Sreelatha Chandran, Rajeswari Jolly, Lissy Sunny and Kausalya Thankamani