Teacher unions agree to more talks

The teachers’ unions Thursday toned down their strike threat and agreed to hold more talks with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) over pay.

The TSC, Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) will now hold the next round of talks on September 30.

Thursday’s meeting was the second after a previous one last week aborted when Knut walked out in protest against the composition of the committee which had three Kuppet officials.

TSC boss Gabriel Lengoiboni said the Committee on Terms and Conditions had held a fruitful discussion on the issues the teachers raised.

“However, we have to consult the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) on the demands teachers have made,” Mr Lengoiboni said, adding his commission would talk with teachers’ representatives at the end of the month after meeting SRC.

“The demands are too many and we have to condense them for easy engagement,” he said.

Kuppet secretary general Akello Misori said they were losing patience as adjournment of talks was causing anxiety among their members.

However, Mr Misori said Kuppet would wait until the September 30 meeting before making its decision.

His Knut counterpart Wilson Sossion asked teachers to be patient and give dialogue a chance. “However, if the September 30 meeting fails to meet the demands of teachers, then we will call a strike within seven days,” Mr Sossion warned.

“We’ve kept our part of the bargain and I hope TSC will do the same so we can resolve the issues.”

He said they had been calling for dialogue since April this year but the government and TSC had been avoiding them.

The Terms and Conditions Committee chaired by Mr Joseph Obonyo has representatives from the Ministries of Education and Labour, Public Service, National Treasury. Other members are Mr Lengoiboni and five union representatives.

Mr Sossion warned that they would not engage the TSC on teachers’ salaries in future if the current talks did not bear fruit.