Tutors’ strikes have stalked the country since 1997

Teachers agitate for higher salaries in the past. FILE PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE |

What you need to know:

  • Dealing with teachers, especially when they are demanding a pay rise, is no walk in the park.

Anyone who has been at the helm of the Education Ministry will confirm that dealing with teachers, especially when they are demanding a pay rise, is no walk in the park.

At the beginning of the academic year in January, Kenya National Union of Teachers and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers declared “the mother of all strikes” to demand a salary rise of 300 per cent, but later backed down to between 150 and 200 per cent.

Calling the strike on January 5 put the unions on a collision path with the Teachers Service Commission. No side was willing to back down.

Things got tough when the two unions walked out of talks convened by the TSC and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and made it clear that they would not attend more meetings if their conditions were not met.

Desperate to contain the situation, TSC moved to court seeking orders to declare the strike illegal.

The tough stance by either side required the intervention of a witty judge to bring them back to the negotiating table.

On January 14, Justice Mathews Nduma Nderi declined TSC’s request to declare the strike illegal. He instead summoned officials of the unions, TSC, SRC and Labour ministry.

The judge had decided to take the matter in his own hands and within a few hours, the unions and their employer agreed to a return-to-work formula. They allowed Justice Nderi to take over mediation.

Teachers went back to class on January 19. Part of the agreement was also that no teacher would be victimised for participating in the strike.

Justice Nderi’s move was the first of its kind. Even the parties in the dispute agreed that the approach taken by the judge was the best in the circumstances of the stand-off.

“It was a historic day for the judiciary to address the labour dispute that has troubled this country for years. The direction taken by the court is in the best interest of teachers since TSC had declined to table an offer,” Knut boss Wilson Sossion said.

What followed was five months of waiting for the teachers.

In the end, the judge gave them a 50 to 60 per cent basic salary increase, translating to an annual raise of between 12.5 to 15 per cent over four years dating back to 2013.

The judge expressed optimism that the decision would bring to an end the era of strikes and bitter acrimony between the unions and the national government over salaries and allowance demands, which started way back in 1997.