Union leaders warn of major strike over salary team perks

Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary General Wilson Sossion during the signing of a memorandum with Jomo Kenyatta Institute of Agriculture and Technology on December 1, 2014. Mr Sossion is also the new leader of Trade Unions Congress an umbrella workers federation bringing together teachers, civil servants, public university workers, local government workers and dock workers. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU |

What you need to know:

  • Mr Sossion said that over 600,000 government workers including teachers will not return to work in January unless the government withdraws what he termed as demeaning allowances and initiates structured negotiations with workers on the same.
  • Already the 300,000 teachers under the Kenya National Union of Teachers are in salary dispute with the government and have threatened to paralyse learning from January.
  • She said the review of allowances was done to ensure harmonisation, equity, fairness, regulation, attraction and retention in the public service and also to compensate for the cost of living.

The country could plunge into a major industrial turmoil in January following threats by teachers and public servants to withdraw services over the new controversial allowances. 

Trade Union Congress of Kenya Secretary General Wilson Sossion on Thursday wrote to the Labour Secretary Kazungu Kambi warning that he will lead teachers and public servants in a major strike next month if the government does not withdraw a new regime of allowances announced by the Salaries and Remunerations Commission (SRC) by Wednesday.

Mr Sossion said that over 600,000 government workers including teachers will not return to work in January unless the government withdraws what he termed as demeaning allowances and initiates structured negotiations with workers.

Already the 300,000 teachers under the Kenya National Union of Teachers are in salary dispute with the government and have threatened to paralyse learning from January.

Mr Sossion, who is Knut secretary general, is also the new leader of Trade Unions Congress an umbrella workers federation bringing together teachers, civil servants, public university workers, local government workers and dock workers.

“After in-depth consultations between the leadership of the unions within the public sector, we wish to state that SRC is overstepping its constitutional mandate as provided for in Article 230 (4)(b) to advise the national and county governments on the remuneration and benefits of all public officers,” Mr Sossion wrote.

WITHDRAWAL OF NEW ALLOWANCES
The TUK-K boss said SRC is not sincere claiming that its own commissioners take home hundreds of thousands in allowances with four of them receiving double salaries from various public boards they sit in as commissioners.

“We are asking the Commission to confirm or deny that all the commissioners receive monthly salaries or stipend in excess of Sh350,000 notwithstanding the fact that they are only entitled to allowances for a certain number of meetings in a year,” he claimed.

Mr Sossion asked Mr Kambi to order the withdrawal of the new allowances and re-initiate fresh talks on the same.

“After scrutinising this document we have concluded that this report or decision was arrived at without public participation, none of our unions was consulted, the same should be declared void as it is unconstitutional,” he said.

Union of Kenya Civil Servants secretary-general Mr Tom Odege said that civil servants will join teachers in a national strike if the government fails to stick to an agreement between the union and the public service commission to allocate Sh21 billion for the increased house and hardship allowances.

“We had agreed that the allowances will apply uniformly in all towns and cities with the least paid worker in job group A getting Sh 7,500 and those in job group V getting Sh130,000,” Mr Odege said.

WORST STRIKES

He said that SRC acted in bad faith for failing to consult stakeholders saying this had set the stage for one of the worst strikes in the public service.

SRC had trimmed allowances paid to government officials which would see the government save Sh125 billion, translating to 25 per cent of the annual wage bill.

In the last year alone, Sh184 billion was paid in form of 156 allowances to public servants which the commission said would drastically reduce to 46. Ms Serem told Sunday Nation Sarturday that no other allowances besides hardship, housing leave and subsistence allowances had been reviewed.

“There have been protestations and outright misunderstanding of SRC circular on the same. This might generate anxiety among government employees. The true position, however, is that the Commission has not reviewed other existing allowances applicable in the public service,” he said.

She said the review of other allowances was work in progress and the Commission will dialogue with respective employers.

“It should be clear that the circular to employers is a framework within which to engage in Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations with workers’ unions,” she said.

Mrs Serem said the government was cleaning up the payroll to help get an accurate measure of the wage bill.

She said the review of allowances was done to ensure harmonisation, equity, fairness, regulation, attraction and retention in the public service and also to compensate for the cost of living.

FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY
“The Commission is alive to the need to balance managing fiscal sustainability against rewarding employees, ensuring fairness and equity as well as spurring productivity in the public service.

In discharging its constitutional mandate, the Commission is keen to manage the clamour for higher wage increases in light of the country’s economic realities,” she said.

She said Subsistence Allowance has been enhanced to make employees comfortable while working outside their stations while  teachers for the first time will enjoy leave allowance and their remuneration and benefits have been harmonised with the civil service.

“Civil servants in hardship areas now enjoy better hardship allowance as opposed to when the allowance was capped at a maximum of Ksh1,200 and of course house allowance has been boosted to take care of rising cost of housing,” Mrs Serem added.

She said from next year, the Commission would embark on job evaluation exercise across the entire public service in an effort to ensure public officers are paid a salary that is commensurate to the worth of their jobs and entrench equity, fairness and harmony across the service.