Schools remain closed as Knut rejects offer

Public schools will remain closed for the 16th day after teachers on Tuesday rejected a Sh17 billion pay offer, terming it inferior.

Dismissing the Monday offer, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) said it wanted the pay increase effected at once, not in three phases.

Officials led by Wycliffe Omucheyi said most of the union’s demands had been left out in the pay offer and those of the rival Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) taken on board.

“Knut is not only dismayed by this offer, but also considers this an insult to teachers. We totally reject this offer and are asking the government to put a more serious and relevant offer on the table,” Mr Omucheyi said at a news conference at Knut headquarters.

“The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has finally agreed to put a very inferior offer on the table and we wish to report that it does not even address the matter that caused the strike.”

Mr Omucheyi, who is the union’s second vice-chairman, is now the official face of the strike after chairman Wilson Sossion and acting secretary-general Mudzo Nzili were cited for contempt of court.

On Tuesday, Industrial Court judge Linet Ndolo ordered them to appear in court again on Wednesday as well as call off the strike within 24 hours after TSC withdrew the contempt charges against them.

But the union maintains 24 hours is not enough to call off the strike since its national executive council members have to travel long distances to Nairobi.

“Knut has structures and members of the NEC are across the country, some as far as Mandera. It is not possible to have them here in that time,” Mr Omucheyi said.

In TSC’s Monday deal, teachers had been offered higher commuter allowances with the lowest — at job grade G — getting Sh4,000 from the current Sh1,000 per month. The highest paid — a chief principal at job group R — was to get Sh16,000, up from Sh4,410.

The government will spend Sh16.8 billion on commuter allowances for the 278,060 teachers on the payroll, spread over three financial years.

Other goodies offered on Monday are Special School allowances where between Sh5,000 and Sh14,500 was be paid to the lowest and highest earning teachers respectively.

The TSC also brought on board a new perk — reading allowance — for teachers of visually impaired students who will earn a new rate of Sh15,000 per month.

But Knut maintains its 1997 agreement with the government must be honoured first.

“Let us not forget the reason why we have this strike in the first place. We want the 1997 agreement out of the way first before discussing any new deal,” Mr Omucheyi said.

The 1997 deal proposed house allowance calculated at 50 per cent of a teacher’s basic salary, medical and commuter allowances of 20 and 10 per cent, respectively, of basic pay.

“We are concerned that Cabinet Secretary for Labour Kazungu Kambi has totally neglected his duty to convene a meeting to address the matters that caused the strike,” he said.

“The cause of the strike is the implementation of allowances under Legal Notice 534 of 1997, which is not subject of fresh negotiations. The negotiations over these allowances was completed in 1997.”

The government insists it will not negotiate house and medical perks.