Varsity lecturers signal strike
Lecturers at Kenya’s 18 public universities on Wednesday issued a strike notice over stalled implementation of new salaries and allowances.
Universities Academic Staff Union secretary general Muga K’Olale said the notice would take effect on November 9.
“Academic staff at all public universities and their constituent colleges will withdraw their labour from this date and will not resume duty until the 2010/2012 collective bargaining agreement has been met,” Mr K’Olale said.
Mr K’Olale told reporters in Nairobi in the company of union chairman Samuel Kubasu and national executive officials that Higher Education minister Margaret Kamar was to blame for delays in starting negotiations.
Also to blame
“University councils are also to blame for the outright violation of the Constitution and failure to respect and implement part of 2008/2010 CBA,” he said.
Prof Kubasu said lecturers expected the new pay rise to be between 30 to 40 per cent.
If the strike went ahead, learning in public universities would be totally paralysed and this would affect more than 100,000 students, both the public and private sponsored
The last strike notice by UASU was cancelled last year after union officials held four-hour negotiations with government officials.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga was forced to intervene and broker a deal to avert a potentially crippling strike by the public university academic staff.
During those talks, the Prime Minister brought together officials from the university administration, Ministry of Finance and those of the Ministry of Higher Education to come up with an agreement.
Accompanied by Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Odinga faulted the government at the meeting, saying it always deliberately failed to honour its pledges to civil servants.
