Unions reject bishops’ bid to end strike

What you need to know:

  • “The meeting lasted only 10 to 15 minutes and we did not arrive at a conclusion,” Mr Omboko Milemba, the Kuppet chairman, told the Nation on phone.
  • She said that the Constitution guarantees Kenyan children a right to education and it is unfair for them to stay at home just because the government and teachers have failed to agree.
  • The Industrial Court will Wednesday engage the main players in education to find a way out of the strike.

The Catholic Church Tuesday failed in its attempt to mediate in the salary dispute between striking teachers and the government as learning in public schools remained paralysed for the second week since the first term started.

Led by Bishop Maurice Crowley, who is in charge of education at the Catholic Church, the bishops had hosted union leaders at Waumini House in Nairobi in the hope of ending the industrial dispute, which has affected public schools countrywide.

The talks stalled after the union leaders walked out of the meeting.

Teachers went on strike on Monday last week, claiming their pay talks with the Teachers Service Commission, which started last year, had stalled.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) are demanding a 300 per cent pay raise in addition to 35 other allowances.

LASTED ONLY 10MIN

“The meeting lasted only 10 to 15 minutes and we did not arrive at a conclusion,” Mr Omboko Milemba, the Kuppet chairman, told the Nation on phone.

Members of Parliament also stepped in and asked the teachers and the government to reach a deal in the interest of Kenya’s children.

The National Assembly education committee, chaired by Ms Sabina Chege, resolved to petition the Speaker of the National Assembly to recall the House to discuss the matter if the teachers and government will not have struck a deal by tomorrow.

“We are calling upon the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, teachers and the government to give dialogue a chance and resolve this matter,” said Ms Chege, the woman representative for Murang’a County.

She said that the Constitution guarantees Kenyan children a right to education and it is unfair for them to stay at home just because the government and teachers have failed to agree.

“We hope the government will come with an offer so that the strike does not extend only for them to come up with an offer when it is too late,” she said and also asked teachers to be realistic in their demands.

The House is scheduled to resume sittings on February 10.

While the government agrees to harmonising teachers’ allowances to match those of other public officers, the National Treasury has said there is no money to pay the salaries because the expenditure had not been considered as part of the Budget for the current financial year, which ends in June.

As the dispute drags on, parents of children in public schools now hang their hope on High Court-driven negotiations to end the strike.

The Industrial Court will Wednesday engage the main players in education to find a way out of the strike.

JUDGE'S CHAMBERS
The court last week undertook to arbitrate in the matter that has seen children in public schools remain at home for the last seven school days after the two unions asked their members to boycott work and press for higher salaries.

Delivering the ruling last week after the Teachers Service Commission went to court seeking orders to declare the strike illegal, Judge Nduma Nderi called for negotiations to be held in his chambers today to seek a solution to the stalemate.

He also declined to grant orders stopping the strike.

“I need all the officials from the TSC, Knut and Kuppet to help come up with an amicable solution that will see children resume school soonest possible,” he said. Representatives from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission will also attend the talks.

Saying that the TSC, Knut and Kuppet had already resolved 37 issues mainly touching on teachers’ allowances, Mr Justice Nderi noted that what remained contentious was a demand for an increase in teachers’ basic pay.

Knut has said that such an increase is an important part of its collective bargaining agreement with TSC, which had moved to court under a certificate of urgency, seeking to have the unions end the strike.

The employer wanted to have Knut officials Wilson Sossion, Mudzo Nzili and Albanus Mutisya, and their Kuppet counterparts, Mr Akello Misori, Mr Milemba and Mr Mwethi Njengo to appear in court.

While summoning the officials, the judge said that the orders given on Thursday only required the union leaders to appear but was not binding on the unions themselves.

Meanwhile, some principals of secondary schools have expressed fears over registration of candidates for this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, which was to have started last week.

One school head who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Nation that they are waiting for a final word from union leaders after the outcome of the court arbitration.

“We have been told to wait for the communication from the unions but at the moment there is nothing going on.

Reported by Mazera Ndurya, Maryanne Gicobi and Ouma Wanzala