Rival teachers unions differ over committee membership

Rival teachers unions Friday differed at a forum called by the Teachers Service Commission to address the welfare of their members.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) failed to agree on the composition of a consultative committee on terms and conditions for service for teachers, forcing the Knut leadership to walk out of the meeting.

However, Kuppet stayed put and held talks with the committee, which also includes TSC secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni, and resolved to start negotiations on Friday.

The bone of contention was the presence of three members from Kuppet in the committee instead of one as had been demanded by Knut.

Kuppet Secretary-General Akelo Misori said the union would meet the TSC committee to discuss issues affecting teachers and will not be swayed by sideshows.

“We have agreed to meet on Friday so that we can start our discussions on responsibility allowance, salary increase, leave allowance, house allowance, medical cover, among other issues that are of importance to our teachers,” said Mr Misori at TSC headquarters.

NON-ISSUES

He accused the rival union of raising non-issues in order to derail the talks on the welfare of teachers across the country.

Mr Misori was accompanied by his chairman, Omboko Milemba, deputy secretary-general Moses Nthurima, secretary for secondary schools Edward Obwocha and treasurer Mwethi Njenga.

Knut chairman Mudzo Nzili said the union was opposed to including more members from their rival union Kuppet.

Mr Nzili said that the committee was not well constituted to allow the deliberation to take place, saying that they would only resume talks once the committee had been constituted legally.

Mr Nzili said that Kuppet was supposed to have one member while Knut was supposed to have four members in the committee.

“When we arrived for the meeting we discovered that Kuppet had been allocated three members while Knut had been allocated four. We do not agree with this and we will only resume the meeting once we agree on membership,” said the Knut chairman.

TSC ACT

He maintained that the TSC Act provides for five slots for trade unions and therefore Knut as a union with the largest membership deserved more.

He warned that teachers would go on strike unless their concerns were addressed and asked TSC to move with speed and address their concerns.

“We have given them notice and we are waiting for their feedback. Even if they call us today we are ready for the talks,” said Mr Nzili.

Kuppet is demanding responsibility allowance for principals, their deputies and heads of departments to be pegged at 50 per cent of their basic salaries.

They are also seeking leave allowance equivalent to one month’s salary as well as house allowance at 50 per cent of their basic salary, up from the current allowance of about 10 per cent.

Kuppet also wants a 200 per cent salary increment for its members, insisting that their salaries were last reviewed in 1997.

MEDICAL COVER

The union also wants a comprehensive medical cover for teachers and their families in all hospitals in Kenya and abroad to which they can also be airlifted in case of an emergency.

Teachers in secondary schools also want hardship allowance at 30 per cent of their basic salaries and risk allowance for science teachers at 40 per cent of their basic salary.

Kuppet also wants teachers to proceed from Job group R up to T, the way other civil servants are progressing, without limitation.

The secondary school teachers also want a comprehensive scheme of service for post graduate teachers.

Currently, teachers in Job Group F to R are entitled to hardship allowance of 30 per cent of their basic salary per month.

Those in special schools get an allowance of 10 per cent of their basic salary while they get a house allowance that ranges from Sh3,500 to Sh40,000.

Knut, for its part, wants a special allowance for its teachers working in major towns in the country.