Teachers stay put as debate over their pay raise rages on

Teachers said on Monday that they would only return to the classroom after the government gives in to their demands, even as the Education ministry ruled out closing schools due to the strike that entered its second week.

And the Salaries and Remuneration Commission warned that the public wage bill would rise to Sh823 billion — a Sh255 billion increase — unless teachers' demands for higher salaries and allowances are moderated.

Their unions, Knut and Kuppet, which have been rivals for years, yesterday held day-long talks and issued a joint statement castigating the government’s handling of the pay dispute, which has paralysed learning in public schools countrywide.

Mr Mudzo Nzili, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) chairman, and Mr Omboko Milemba, his Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) counterpart, claimed that the government was no longer interested in negotiation and instead was engaging in propaganda to incite Kenyans against the teachers and their leaders.

Their sentiments were supported by Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion, his Kuppet counterpart, Mr Akelo Misori, and other union leaders.

BEST PAID IN AFRICA

Even as they vowed to go on with their strike, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi said the government would not close schools.

“We want to give the talks a chance and that is why we should not speculate about the fate of children in schools and the teachers,” Prof Kaimenyi told the Nation on phone.

He maintained that Kenyan teachers were among the best paid in the region and Africa, after South Africa and Morocco.

Prof Kaimenyi said the teachers’ pay review should be pegged to productivity in future.

Last week, the Treasury Secretary, Mr Henry Rotich, ruled out a pay raise for teachers, saying the money for such a review had not been factored into the current Budget.

The next Budget will be read in June and teachers have been told that the earliest their salaries can be reviewed is after eight months.

Kenya employs close to 250,000 teachers. A P1 teacher in Job Group G earns between Sh16,692 and  Sh21,304 as basic salary, while the highest paid teacher, a chief principal at Job Group R, earns between Sh109,089 and Sh144,928.

CONTINUE WITH STRIKE

On Monday, Mr Sossion said teachers would continue to stay away from schools until the government listens to their demands.

Knut has tabled 38 demands it says have not been adequately addressed. He also said that an increase in teachers’ basic salary would remain a key component of the talks between the unions and the Teachers Service Commission.

“In November they gave us a 50-60 per cent offer and we now expect them to improve on it,” said Mr Sossion.

“Allowances are good but the basic salary is important as it will help the teachers to access loans as well as get the car and mortgage facility that the government is talking about.”

Mr Sossion said the cause of teachers was non-political and asked politicians to keep off the dispute with their employer.

The view could have been a reaction to the Saturday’s statement by the leader of the Wiper Democratic Party, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, who during Fidel Odinga’s funeral service in Bondo, Siaya County, asked the government to immediately honour the teachers’ demand for higher pay.

SILENCE TEACHERS

Last week, the TSC said that teachers’ salaries would be reviewed after eight months, after a job evaluation. Yesterday, however, Mr Sossion said the government was using the proposed job evaluation to silence teachers. According to him, job evaluation was not anchored in any law.

“Job evaluation is unattainable as it was introduced by the government to stop union leaders from negotiating for a pay rise,” said Mr Sossion.

He asked parents to stand with teachers and described the union’s push for higher pay for its members as realistic, sustainable and justifiable.

Mr Misori said there was no goodwill on the side of the government despite the two unions having shown their commitment to resolve the pay dispute.

“You do not fire brigade (sic) the teachers strike. What you only need is little resources and serious engagement, not intimidations, blackmail and all sorts of propaganda,” he said at the press conference held in Nairobi.

Last week, the government said it had offered teachers a package that would have cost Sh9.3 billion. However, Kuppet said the offer amounted to Sh5.5billion.

REJECTED OFFER

Kuppet and Knut rejected the offer because it had no component on basic salary. Knut has been pushing for an increase in basic pay, saying this was what was used to determine retirement package for teachers and other benefits, including car loans and mortgages.

Teachers qualify for car loans of about Sh1.5 million and mortgages of Sh10 million for those in Job Groups K, L, M and N. Majority of teachers fall in these job groups. Teachers in Job Groups G, H, and J and will get up to Sh800, 000 as car loan and Sh6 million mortgage.

Mr Misori yesterday said the demand for a better pay should not be pegged on the government’s overall wage bill, which the Salaries and Remuneration Commission has warned has been growing unsustainably.

The SRC, which Kuppet has described as a stumbling block to their demands, yesterday published an advertisement in newspapers, warning that the unregulated and unsustainable increase in the wage bill limits the government’s ability to deliver on services.

SRC chairperson Sarah Serem said the current wage bill stands at Sh568 billion, meaning that it consumes over 52 per cent of the country’s domestic revenue. If the demand for higher salaries by public officers was to be effected and harmonized, an additional Sh255 billion would be required bringing the total wage bill to over Sh823 billion or about 90 percent of the country’s revenue, she explained.

“Any imbalance between expenditure and revenue will result in unsustainable deficit financing and increased taxation,” said Mrs Serem.