Ruto invites Knut for perk talks

Deputy President William Ruto (centre) after being installed as a Teso community elder on June 29, 2013. Photo/DPPS

Deputy President William Ruto over the weekend urged striking teachers to hold negotiations with the government and end the stalemate over their allowances demands.

Mr Ruto also wondered why the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) had refused to negotiate with the Jubilee government yet it did so with previous regimes. Read (Moi: Leave me out of teachers’ strike)

“We have seen the union negotiate with Moi and Kibaki regimes. Only talks can help us get our children back to class,” said Mr Ruto.

The teachers strike enters second week with the union stating that members will continue boycotting classes even as the government threatens to withhold their June salaries. Read (Knut dares minister as war of nerves continue)

Knut national chairman Wilson Sossion has repeatedly argued that the Collective Bargaining Agreement (1997) has to be implemented in full and that teachers will refuse new offers.

“We are not ready to meet them (government) as they want to introduce a new CBA without fully implementing the 1997 agreement," said Mr Sossion.

Mr Ruto asked the teachers' union to meet the Cabinet Secretaries for Labour and Education to find an amicable solution.