Knut welcomes move to audit TSC over payroll

Teachers have welcomed the decision by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to carry out an audit to establish if their employer is running two payrolls.

In a letter to SRC chairperson Lynn Mengich dated March 2, Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion insists that the TSC has been having two payrolls since July last year, which is against the advice of the SRC.

“It is in this regard that we urge you to swiftly step in, put to order the illegal payroll activities at the TSC, and ensure that all payments to teachers are backdated to July 2019 and are integrated into the payroll of March 2020 since Parliament and the National Treasury have appropriated the funds in the 2019/2020 budget,” says Mr Sossion in the letter.

He adds that keeping two payrolls is an open provocation to Knut members who have been discriminated against to turn to industrial action.

Last month SRC, in a letter to the TSC, said the matter raised by Knut could amount to non-compliance with its advice and asked for a meeting with TSC to establish the status of compliance.

To prove its case, Knut cited two press statements issued last year by former TSC head of communications Kamotho Kihumba, which indicated that the commission had two payrolls.

In July 2019, Mr Kihumba said: “The judgment of the labour court has necessitated the preparation of two parallel payrolls in order to comply with the court’s ruling without disadvantaging teachers who are not Knut members. In this regard, the payroll for teachers who are not Knut members has factored in implementation of phase three of the 2017-2021 CBA. Their payslips will therefore reflect the enhanced pay in line with their grades.”

On August 8, 2019, Mr Kihumba said: “The commission will revert the affected teachers to the old teaching grades provided for in the schemes of service, e.g. P1, ATSIV, ATS III etc.

“This will automatically lead to teachers losing all the benefits embedded in the career progression guidelines as an implementation tool for the CBA. In addition, full reversion of the previously enhanced salaries shall subsequently follow by recovering the salary overpayment to the affected teachers.”

A total of 103,000 teachers who were Knut members missed the pay increase and 80,000 members abandoned the union.

However, new head of communications Beatrice Wababu insisted there is only one payroll.

Knut members missed the third phase of the Sh54 billion increment after a fallout with TSC, which insisted that the decision was based on the labour court ruling.

The court ordered that the terms of service for teachers be based on the scheme of service, not career progression guidelines as TSC had wanted.