Strike in balance after deadline for pay talks expires

PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI Teachers and Knut officials protest outside the union’s Nyeri branch office on June 28, 2013. The fate of the ongoing strike hangs in the balance after the deadline to enforce past collective bargaining agreement expired on June 30.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By JEREMIAH KIPLANG’AT j

 

In Summary

• So far, six national strikes have before been called to push the government to honour the notice but to date only hardship and special allowances have been increased.
• Knut chairman Wilson Sossion says teachers will continue to strike until their demands were met
• Kuppet deputy secretary-general Moses Nthurima says the union’s members will continue boycotting classes until an agreeable solution was found

The fate of the ongoing teachers’ strike hangs in the balance after the time to enforce all collective bargaining agreements expired on Sunday.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission had asked all employers to deal with all Collective Bargaining Agreements by June 30, 2013.

The expiry of the notice now means that teachers might be required to negotiate a fresh agreement with their employer, the Teachers’ Service Commission. The salaries team, led by Mrs Sarah Serem, had directed last year that all current CBAs would “expire on June 30, 2013, to allow room for new ones with a four-year review cycle”.

This could mean that dissatisfied public workers would have to negotiate afresh with the government and enter into new agreements.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has been pushing the government to fully implement Legal Notice 534 of 1997 — which tasked the government to increase teachers’ hardship, special, house, medical and commuter allowances. However, the Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof Jacob Kaimenyi, has been arguing that the legal notice was repelled by an agreement signed between teachers and the government in 2003.

So far, six national strikes have before been called to push the government to honour the notice but to date only hardship and special allowances have been increased.

Another teachers’ union, Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), has been pushing for the harmonisation of its members’ allowances with those of other civil servants.

On Sunday, teachers vowed not to meet the government for talks, claiming that it wanted to give them a new offer.

Knut chairman Wilson Sossion said teachers would continue to strike until their demands were met. The strike, which started on Tuesday, enters its second week on Monday.

The Ministry of Education has warned that teachers will not be paid for the days they have stayed away from work, a position that Knut has challenged. According to the union, its members are entitled to a full month’s salary after clocking 21 days. The strike started on June 25.

Previous CBA

“We are not ready to meet them as they want to introduce a new CBA without fully implementing the previous CBA that was agreed on in 1997,” Mr Sossion said at the weekend.

On Saturday, Deputy President William Ruto asked teachers’ union to engage the government in negotiations to end the strike.

Mr Ruto said negotiation was the only way to resolve the stalemate.

“We have seen the union negotiating with Moi’s regime and even Kibaki’s regime. Only negotiations can help us get the children back in class,” Mr Ruto said.

Talks aimed at resolving the crisis failed last week after Knut skipped sessions called by the Teachers Service Commission.

Knut and Kuppet asked teachers to withdraw their services, arguing that the government had failed to allocate money for their enhanced allowances in the current financial year which begins Monday.

Attempts by opposition MPs to re-allocate Sh53 billion from the Budget failed after the amendment moved by Minority Deputy Leader Jakoyo Midiwo was defeated in Parliament.