Labour court stops meeting 'convened to sack Wilson Sossion'

Embattled teachers’ union boss Wilson Sossion Wednesday won court orders stopping a planned meeting of the organisation’s top brass, whose agenda was to kick him out.

Labour Court judge Byram Ongaya granted the orders after Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Sossion filed an urgent application, saying, some members of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) were plotting to illegally remove him from office.

HIJACK AGENDA

Through lawyer Judith Guserwa, Mr Sossion said that on August 19, he issued a convening notice for the NEC meeting scheduled for August 29.

“As we were working towards the scheduled meeting, administrative issues cropped up and we postponed it,” Mr Sossion said.

But as soon as he had issued the postponement notice, he received communication through social media, telephone calls and personal communication to the effect that some NEC members were plotting to proceed with the meeting. “They were also planning to proceed with the meeting so they could hijack the agenda and remove him from office,” the lawyer said.

Meanwhile, Mr Sossion Wednesday closed Knut headquarters along Mfangano Street in Nairobi until next week.

“We wish to notify staff that our offices shall be closed from Thursday 5pm until September 3 at 8am to allow members of staff to take the necessary arrangements for their children and dependants to resume school for third term considering the current financial situation in Knut,” he said in a memo.

UNION DUES

Mr Sossion has been under pressure from some NEC members to quit following a fallout with the Teachers Service Commission and senior teachers over the execution of the Sh54 billion 2017-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The TSC suspended the implementation of the third phase of the salary deal, which should have been effected at the end of July. This came after the Labour Court suspended the Career Professional guidelines, which form the basis of promotions.

The court ruled that TSC should only use the Code of Regulations for Teachers to effect job upgrades. More than 18,000 school principals, their deputies and senior teachers who would have received massive pay rises in the deal, have since decamped from Knut, joining the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), which was not part of the labour dispute.

Further, the TSC has not remitted union dues deducted from teachers to Knut, thus starving it financially.

Kuppet said yesterday that the TSC’s decision to deny 103,624 teachers pay increase for two months had demoralised them ahead of schools opening on Monday. Kuppet Secretary-General Akelo Misori asked TSC to pay all teachers their salaries in full without discrimination, saying the current working environment would hurt learners.

THIRD PHASE

“Schools are opening and we don’t expect any commotion in the sector. The employer must sustain teacher motivation in the interest of industrial peace and harmony,” he said.

Speaking at Kuppet office in Nairobi, Mr Misori who was with union chairman Omboko Milemba and other officials said it’s unfair for TSC to stop executing the third phase of the pay increase because of its differences with Knut.

Kenya Women Teachers Association Chairperson Dorothy Muthoni asked teachers to be patient as TSC addresses their issues.

Mr Sossion denied claims of mass exodus of Knut members to Kuppet. He told TSC to stop sideshow battles and asked TSC to embrace alternative dispute resolution mechanism in resolving.

Reporting by Abiud Ochieng, Ouma Wanzala and Faith Nyamai