Teachers and TSC in talks to avert strike

Teachers’ representatives are set to meet their employers Tuesday to agree on a raft of demands for their salaries and allowances to be increased.

The meeting is a last gasp attempt to stop a nationwide strike set for next month.

There is a risk that the school calendar could be disrupted ahead of the start of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam if the teachers and their employer fail to agree in tomorrow’s talks.

Last week, Education Permanent Secretary Belio Kipsang and the Kenya National Examination Council launched this year’s examinations at Mtihani Centre, where it was announced that 1.4 million candidates would sit for the KCPE and KCSE exams this year.

Supervision of the exams could be adversely affected if teachers decide to go on strike during this crucial period.

RETURN-TO-WORK

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) will send three representatives to the meeting while the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) will send one. The unions have submitted different demands for the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

Full implementation of the return-to-work formula agreed on between Knut and TSC in July 2013 is one of the unions’ demands. They also want a salary review that will see their pay raised by between 180 to 200 per cent and house allowance by up to 50 per cent of a teacher’s basic salary.
Leave allowance review is another demand.

TSC Chief Executive Officer Gabriel Lengoiboni said the unions had filed 40 demands.

Knut National Chairman Mudzo Nzili said Sunday that teachers were hopeful that the TSC would meet their demands to avoid interruption of learning.

SPECIAL ALLOWANCE

“We will be going there tomorrow as scheduled, hoping to have this matter concluded once and for all. We are hopeful that TSC will be meeting the demands without any further twists,” he said.

According to Mr Lengoiboni, the government last year agreed to provide funds for harmonisation of teachers’ commuter allowance with that of civil servants.

It also agreed to pay a special school allowance at a fixed rate of Sh10,000 a month and a readers’ allowance at Sh15,000 a month. The government further agreed to raise the responsibility allowance for school administrators in Job Group ‘K’ and below by 100 per cent.

These, Mr Lengoiboni said, had been implemented fully at an additional cost of Sh13.6 billion a year, bringing the annual wage bill for teachers to Sh161 billion.

“The commission is consulting with the relevant government agencies, including the SRC, which is constitutionally mandated to determine and set the remuneration of all public officers, including teachers,” said Mr Lengoiboni.

His remarks, however, were criticised by Knut, which is opposed to the involvement of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in the talks.

Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion, who is due to arrive Monday from New York, where he was attending an education symposium on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, has opposed the inclusion of Mrs Sarah Serem’s team in the discussions.

“They come in the middle of negotiations for implementation of the return to work formula agreed between the Kenya National Union of Teachers and the TSC,” said Mr Sossion.

He accused TSC of making frantic efforts to treat teachers as State officers and leave the responsibility of negotiating their pay in the hands of the Serem team.

“TSC was created as a constitutional commission with mandate over teachers’ salaries, remuneration and benefits. SRC’s mandate is advisory, if TSC seeks any,” he explained.

PASSING THE BUCK

Kuppet secretary-general Akelo Misori has also opposed the SRC’s inclusion in the talks.

“The commission has failed to declare the government’s offer to the union demands since 2012 and instead it is passing the buck to SRC and creating anxiety to the public and in particular the teachers in service,” he said.

Kuppet has been demanding a responsibility allowance for principals, their deputies and heads of departments to be pegged at 50 per cent of their basic salaries.

The union has also been pushing for the creation of new job grades and a clear scheme of growth for teachers with masters and PhD qualifications.
It has also been demanding manageable class sizes to reduce crowding.