By Susannah Price in Colombo

Every time there is an election in Sri Lanka, crowds of political activists make their way up the steep winding roads to the tea plantations in the hill country.

They distribute leaflets and posters, hold noisy rallies and promise more money and better conditions to nearly a million workers supporting the industry.

Mayawati, who earns about $1.5 a day for plucking the leaves from tea bushes, has few illusions about politicians.

"At election time they have lot of meetings and make promises and when they come to power they just forget about us," she says.

"We have to do this work for 100 rupees a day, just enough to stop ourselves starving and of course it's not enough," she adds.

The plantation workers live in one roomed bungalows called line rooms, each one has several people inside.

There is so little space that many families have built a separate kitchen next to the house.

Tevane, who has worked on the tea plantations for 40 years, keeps her pots and pans in neat rows in the wooden shack where she cooks.

She has no hope of getting a better place to live.

"They will come and ask us for our votes and promise to do many things for us like improve the housing but after the elections they will pretend not to know us," she says.

Union's pitch

The largest trade union in Sri Lanka, which is extremely strong in the plantations, the Ceylon Workers Congress, has been urging the workers to support President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

The new leader of the union, Arumugam Thondaman, is the grandson of the veteran politician who died this year after devoting his life to fighting for the plantation workers' rights.

"For 60 years my grandfather was in politics and you saw the reaction when he died, he was not a self-centred man," said Mr Thondaman.

"As long as you don't start doing show business then people will be behind you," he says.

But the union has lost much support, according to K Vivehandandan, a lawyer in the hill country.

He says the workers will not automatically transfer their support to the grandson.

"They sympathise with Thondaman but don't see an effective bondage between the two," Mr Vivehanandan says.

Opposition

The opposition United National Party, which is supported by other trade unions, is sounding equally confident and is already claiming victory.

The voting patterns in the tea plantations is extremely fluid, and complicated.

The government's deputy housing minister who comes from the area has already defected to the opposition.

But neither side can promise more than the industry can deliver. And the companies which own and run the estates say the collapse of the Russian market and other factors have left them short of money.

Basic demands

While many plantation workers have given up hoping to improve their own lives, they are adamant their children should be well educated and get out.

And there are now fears of a potential labour shortage.

At the Tea Research Institute, researchers are examining ways to improve the quality of life for the labourers through new plucking machines and better collecting baskets.

But this has nothing to do with votes. WW Modder, the director of the TRI, says a contented workforce is vital for Sri Lanka's economy.

"It is not merely money making enterprise that is important," he says.

"This is part of the culture. It is important they have a good quality of life and a good wage and that is what we are doing," he adds.

The politicians will never be able to match all the expectations of the plantation workers on wages and conditions.

But there are increasing calls for them to look at issues such as education, roads and housing where they can have an effect.

Otherwise many workers will continue to believe their time is better spent praying at the temple rather than listening to more empty promises at campaign meetings.