Teachers unions did not issue strike notice: Judge

Striking teachers can be punished by their employer, a lawyer said on Friday.

This is because their union did not issue a strike notice, a judge said on Friday.

Lady Justice Monica Mbaru of the Labour Court said the law requires a strike notice and the work boycott is unprotected.

This leaves the Teachers Service Commission free to take disciplinary action against the striking teachers, according to commission lawyer George Obura.

He wants teachers ordered to go back to class. He said the strike was harming many children in public secondary and primary schools.

A strike notice is required in law so that workers can seek protection from the court should the employer decide to take action against them.

The court can only bar the employer from punishing the workers until the case is heard and determined, if there is a strike notice.

It is this protection that Justice Mbaru says teachers lacked.

However, the judge did not declare the strike illegal saying the Kenya National Union of Teachers and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers deserve to be heard.

Labour laws of 2007 require workers to issue a notice before going on strike.

But Knut and Kuppet have aruged that the 2010 Constitution allows workers to go on strike.

“The Constitution is supreme and any law that does not conform with it is invalid,” Knut lawyer Paul Muite said.

He said that was why they want a bench of three judges to determine whether or not a strike notice was required.

Mr Muite said the court should not listen to the Teachers Service Commission because the commission was in contempt of court by failing to pay teachers the new salaries by August 31 as ordered by the Court of Appeal.

Kuppet lawyer Aaron Ndubi said all laws that existed before 2010 ought to have been harmonised with the new constitution.

The case will be heard next Thursday.