Teachers’ employer to appeal ruling on new salary scales

Teachers will have to wait longer before they can toast their court victory after the Teachers Service Commission on Wednesday said that it will appeal against the 50 to 60 per cent salary increase awarded to its 288,060 workers on Tuesday.

The higher pay was awarded by the Employment and Labour Relations Court, which said this was the only way to end the perennial strikes called by teachers’ unions to demand higher pay. The court also directed that the teachers and their employer sign a Collective Bargaining Agreement within 30 days.

Yesterday, however, TSC Chairperson Lydia Nzomo told journalists at the commission’s headquarters in Nairobi that it did not have even a single cent to pay the additional salary which, if implemented, will cost it an extra Sh70 billion annually.

Instead, she offered them Sh9.3 billion in house and hardship allowances and the newly introduced leave allowance which took effect yesterday. Unions had earlier in the year rejected the allowances until their members’ basic salary increase is increased.

Union leaders warned that the appeal by TSC would be met with stiff resistance by all teachers.

“Any appeal is mischief on the side of the government. It is not us who took the employer to court; it’s the employer who took us there,” said Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion.

However, Dr Nzomo said a salary increase can only be effected after a job evaluation is completed and that any increase must be based on the evaluation. She was accompanied by several TSC commissioners and the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia when she made the statement.

She also said that Mr Justice Nduma Nderi, who gave the Tuesday ruling, had declined to grant TSC a stay of execution of the judgment that would have allowed them to appeal his ruling.

Dr Nzomo said the implementation of the ruling would require an additional Sh70 billion based on the current establishment and without factoring in employment of additional teachers.

“The immediate requirement to pay the arrears accruing from July 1, 2013, to date is Sh51 billion. These funds are not available because they have not been budgeted for in the 2015/2016 financial year,” she said.

According to her, the current government policy is to carry out a job evaluation for all public sector employees to determine comparable and relative worth of jobs and produce a rationalised, harmonised and equitable job-grading structure.

The government has already initiated a job evaluation programme that will provide a justification for any pay review.

Dr Nzomo said that teachers are public officers and, in line with Article 230 of the Constitution, their remuneration is determined by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Separately, Mr Sossion insisted that teachers will push for the implementation of the court ruling. He observed that Sh52 billion can still be provided for through a supplementary budget.

“We have a Budget of about 2.1 trilion. The government, through corruption, losses billions of shillings. Still Sh137 billion is lost through evasion of tax. These money can pay teachers well and still be used for other activities,” said Mr Sossion.

He said the teachers had gone through a process and the government must respect the court’s decision.

If the court order is implemented, a P1 teacher in job group G, the lowest paid, will take home Sh26,707 up from current Sh16,692. The highest paid teachers, in the level of chief principal in job group R, will earn Sh163, 634, up from the current 109,089.

Judge Nderi also directed that allowances – which had earlier been offered to the teachers by TSC through a circular and which were to take effect from yesterday be adopted as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Yesterday, the secretary general of the Union of Kenya Civil Servants, Mr Tom Odege, said civil servants will also demand that their pay be increased.

“It goes without saying because we are all public servants. We eat from the same pot, we have a common fight.

“We celebrated the win for the teachers because it is a win for all public servants in the country,” he told the Nation at his office. “That one I can assure you will not be a big problem, but just a matter of time, we will all get it.”

He at the same time called on the government to obey the court and pay teachers immediately.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union also applauded the move by the court.

Secretary General Ouma Olunga said teachers had waited for the brighter day for too long and that a country that expected prosperity ought to take the welfare of its employees seriously. The union has a similar case in court.

Reported By Ouma Wanzala, Maryanne Gicobi and Stella Cherono