Teachers to sue TSC for contempt

Teachers have threatened to sue their employer for contempt of court after it failed to pay them their September salaries.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) will today hold a consultative meeting with its lawyers to find a way forward, following the failure of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to deposit cash in members' accounts.

The Kenya Post Primary Education Teachers Union (Kuppet) said it plans to sue the commission if the salaries are not paid by the end of today.

However, sources at the TSC said the commission’s lawyers were ready to appeal against some of the orders issued by the court. They said some of them were issued while an appeal case was under way.

Among the orders set to be appealed is one to negotiate with the teachers’ unions on how to pay the salary raises in line with the budget cycle. The TSC might also appeal against the order to pay teachers, and not to victimise them.

TEACHERS 'DEMOTIVATED'

The commission also says some of the teachers have not gone back to school as directed by the court.

Yesterday, Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion told the Nation that the union was considering “many options” following the pay standoff — suing the teachers’ employer for contempt being one of them.

“We wrote to the TSC last week to pay teachers by Friday midnight so as to comply with a court order. It is baffling to see that the TSC and the government have chosen to disobey the court order,” said Mr Sossion.

He, however, did not say whether there was any go-slow among teachers. He said many teachers were demotivated as a result of the pay tussle.

The union leader said the situation could affect the supervision of the final Form Four examinations.

“It is unfair for the government to let education die by refusing to pay the teachers,” added Mr Sossion.

'NO MONEY'

He said the union had not received any suit documents from TSC lawyers on the commission’s intention to appeal over some of the court rulings that culminated in the end of the teachers’ strike.

Teachers went on strike to push the government to pay them a 50 to 60 per cent pay increase awarded to them by the Employment and Labour Relations Court and upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The TSC said it had no money to implement such a pay increase.

While the teachers were ordered to end their strike, the TSC was asked to enter into negotiations with the unions over the pay increase. It was also asked not to victimise the teachers in any way.

The teachers’ employer said it would pay September salaries to only the 40,000 principals, deputies and heads of departments who were working during the strike.