Uhuru, teachers strike deal on September pay
What you need to know:
The TSC and the unions have been told to start fresh talks on a new collective bargaining agreement that will last over the next four years.
Talks must be concluded within a month.
Knut and Kuppet will get Sh510 million withheld for three months.
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday intervened in the teachers’ pay dispute and asked their employer to pay them their September salaries.
President Kenyatta also directed that the more than 42,973 teachers who worked during the five-week strike called by their unions in September be paid extra allowances.
The decision was made at State House on Tuesday during a meeting convened by Mr Kenyatta and attended by Deputy President William Ruto, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, Teachers Service Commission (TSC) chairman Lydia Nzomo and Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) chairman Mudzo Nzili.
UNION DUES
Knut and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) will also get Sh510 million in union fees that the TSC had not remitted to them for three months.
The unions had closed several branches after failing to get money to pay staff.
“All cases filed by parties will be withdrawn from court and negotiations will begin in which a new four-year CBA (collective bargaining agreement) should be agreed on within a month,” said the President.
Knut had vowed to move to the Supreme Court to contest Friday’s Court of Appeal decision that quashed the 50-60 per cent salary increase that the teachers had been awarded by the Employment and Labour Relations Court in June.
SRC ROLE
During Tuesday’s meeting, it was agreed that the teachers acknowledge the binding role of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) on pay and allowances for teachers. The unions have in the past said that the SRC has no role in determining their pay and allowances.
The teachers will also be subjected to a job evaluation, which their union leaders had rejected for many years.
Mr Kenyatta said the meeting had been convened following the decision of the Court of Appeal on Friday.
“There is an urgent need to bring all parties together for dialogue. It is time to reconcile, and to return to harmony in the education sector,” said Mr Kenyatta.
All matters pertaining to the dispute will be concluded through negotiation, and immediately after the cases are withdrawn, the TSC and Knut will meet and begin dialogue.
“There must also be full recognition of a basic point: Equal pay for equal work. We are in public service, and we have a duty to manage public funds equitably and effectively,” Mr Kenyatta said.
“The agreements we have reached will ensure the era of strikes comes to an end,” said Dr Nzomo.
Mr Nzili said the President and Mr Ruto had acted in good faith.
The teachers have been in court since January, fighting for an increase in their basic salaries.
