Knut members in the cold in TSC’s new promotions

Teachers across the country have received a major reprieve after their employer, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), dropped a controversial requirement that those holding administrative positions must have a master’s degree for secondary and an undergraduate degree for primary schools.

RE-ADVERTISED

Following public outrage, the commission has re-advertised 3,469 positions after it failed to get enough candidates with the qualifications. TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said the requirement had been shelved to allow teachers time to acquire the qualifications.

The requirement had locked from interviews a huge number of applicants, especially those from arid and semi-arid areas.

Among those re-advertised are positions of 369 principals in job group D3, 451 headteacher positions in job group C5, and 2,364 deputy headteachers in job group C4.

Principals in job group D3 take home a salary of between Sh93,850 and 102,807, exclusive of commuter, hardship, leave and house allowances, among other benefits, while headteachers in job group C5 take home between Sh51,631 and Sh62,272.

The commission has also re-advertised the positions of Secondary School Teacher I and II, senior masters, deputy principals, Primary Teacher I, senior teachers, deputy headteachers and headteachers, with 185 positions available for grabs. Also advertised are the positions of Secondary School Teacher I in job group C3.

GUIDELINES

Those likely to benefit from the promotions are teachers serving under career progression guidelines in ASAL areas, which means those who belong to the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) are likely to be locked out since they serve under schemes of service following a court ruling in June.

Those in Kuppet will benefit since they fall under the career progression guidelines that form part of the collective bargaining agreement between the union and TSC for 2017-2021.

Those seeking to fill the positions must be cleared by government agencies such as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Higher Education Loans Board, Credit Reference Bureau, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Kenya Revenue Authority. They also must submit their applications by January 17 next year.

At the same time, TSC says it is currently analysing pay increase proposals from Kuppet with a view to formulating a counter-offer. Ms Macharia said the commission plans to conclude all collective bargaining agreements in the teaching service by the end of next year.

THRESHOLD

Kuppet and TSC signed the 2017-2021 CBA in October 2016. Its implementation started on July 1 the following year and will come to an end on June 30, 2021. Last month, the union and the commission held a joint retreat to lay the grounds for CBA 2021-2025.

However, the fate of Knut having talks with TSC still remains unclear as Ms Macharia said the commission’s engagements with unions will be “strictly within legal provisions” and the unions and other partners must have met “the legal threshold for such engagements”. TSC has previously said that Knut, as currently constituted, does not meet the legal threshold.

In its submissions to TSC, Kuppet wants Secondary Teacher II , Secondary Teacher UT and Primary Special Needs Education Teacher, who fall under Grade C2 and earn between Sh34,000 and Sh43,000, to take home a minimum salary of Sh59,425 and a maximum of Sh74,280.

The union also wants chief principals and senior principals, currently earning Sh118,242, to be paid Sh153,715, while those earning Sh141,891 should have their pay increased to 184,458.

EXPOSURE

In the proposal, Kuppet, which now has 120,000 members, also wants teachers to be paid a commuter allowance of between Sh8,500 and Sh20,000 and a leave allowance of between Sh43,694 and Sh141,891. It also wants its members to earn a house allowance of between Sh16,500 and Sh45,000, and a town allowance for Nairobi and county headquarters of between Sh4,000 and Sh8,000.

The union wants its members to earn a  hardship allowance of between Sh16,350 and Sh57,150 – up from the current Sh10,900 to Sh38,100 – an overtime pay of between Sh500 and 1,300 per hour, and a special allowance of Sh15,000 per month to teachers in special needs schools.

The union also wants teachers to get a transfer allowance at the rate of one month’s basic salary, if the transfer has been initiated by the employer, and a risk allowance for all science teachers due to chemical exposure and other substances, which should be 20 per cent of the basic salary.

OFFLOADED

Knut, meanwhile, has reached out to TSC for a meeting in order to iron out the issues between them. Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion also wants TSC to reinstate the over 80,000 teachers who were offloaded from his union, noting that failure to deduct dues has starved the union of finances and crippled its operations.

“We could not hold the 62nd annual delegates conference for lack of funds,” said Mr Sossion, adding that this was “a clear indication of a wide and well-choreographed strategy to kill Knut”.

Mr Sossion further noted that the union is committed to working with the government, in particular TSC, in negotiating the terms and conditions of service for teachers for the purpose of improving teaching standards and performance.