Knut officials at odds over Labour Day attendance

Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Wilson Sossion addresses the media during the release of the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination results at Kenya National Examination Council offices in Nairobi on March 3, 2016. Mr Sossion's call to unionists to boycott Labour Day celebrations was ignored. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Sossion said public sector employees were working long hours in offices while at the end of the month they get "almost empty payslips".
  • Asked why he had defied his colleague’s order, Mr Nzili said trade unionists should differentiate between politics and labour issues.

Differences and infighting between Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Wilson Sossion and union Chairman Mudzo Nzili is threatening to split the giant teachers' union over its affiliation to Trade Unions Congress of Kenya (Tuc-Ke).

Mr Sossion, who doubles up as Tuc-Ke’s secretary-general, called for a boycott of the Labour Day celebrations, saying there was nothing to cheer about.

Issuing a boycott notice to the congress affiliates, Mr Sossion said public sector employees were working long hours in offices while at the end of the month they get "almost empty payslips."

He said teachers and health workers are demotivated and the government was using excessive force and undue pressure to kill the unions.

But in an open defiance of this order, Mr Nzili led a troop of Knut’s national steering council to attend the annual event at Uhuru Park on Sunday.

On Monday, Mr Nzili said Knut went to Uhuru Park to join the rest of the world in celebrating the international day reserved for workers of all aspect of lives.

“Our presence there should be read on the light of celebrating workers’ day, which as a union we are duty-bound to observe,” he told the Nation over the phone.

Asked why he had defied his colleague’s order, Mr Nzili said trade unionists should differentiate between politics and labour issues.

“As a union we work with the government of the day and this is what I told the gathering at Uhuru Park; we cannot mix politics and union issues when dealing with labour concerns,” he said.

The union’s vice-chairman, Samson Kaguma, said Tuc-Ke made a unilateral decision to stay away from the celebrations.

“We are at liberty to attend any international celebration concerning either the education sector or labour issues. So we went there (Uhuru Park) to celebrate the latter,” he said.

When sought for comment, Mr Sossion, said: “If there are any good reasons we will know.”

RECONCILIATION

Meanwhile, Tuc-Ke Deputy Secretary-General Charles Mukhwaya said the infighting does not augur well for trade union politics.

“We have noticed with concern the two are not speaking with one voice and this can be used by our common enemy (the government) to destroy us,” he said by phone.

The congress, he added, is planning to reconcile the two officials to avert a possible split due to partisan or egocentric issues.

“I have just talked to Mr Sossion on phone from his Bomet home and he has lamented [the] betrayal by his colleagues by attending the Labour Day celebrations at Uhuru Park,” Dr Mukhwaya said.

Knut Mombasa branch Secretary Stephen Ouma, however, backed the move to attend the event, saying the Constitution guaranteed freedom of association.

“I attended the Tononoka celebration in Mombasa although Mr Sossion issued his boycott notice through Tuc-Ke, [of] which we are an affiliate body,” he said.

He said the order would have been effected nationwide if it had come from Knut’s national steering council and ratified by the national executive council.

Last November, Mr Nzili led a delegation to State House to meet with President Kenyatta and TSC chairman Lydia Nzomo over a pay increase for teachers in efforts to end a strike that lasted five weeks, a meeting Mr Sossion said he was not aware of.