University staff issue strike notice

From left, sitting: Universities Academic Staff Union deputy Secretary-General Kenzi Joab, chairman Muga Kolale, Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga and vice-chairman Mutura Mberia in Nairobi in February 2017. FILE PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• According to the CBA, the academic staff were to benefit from arrears that have accrued over the four years of the CBA, effective from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2017.
• Early February, the union rejected a Sh10 billion offer by IPUCCF on grounds that it was inadequate and failed to harmonise salaries of dons.

By SAMWEL OWINO
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Learning in public universities could be paralysed from Saturday if the government fails to implement a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) it signed with lecturers in March this year.

The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and the Kenya Universities Staff Union (Kusu) on Friday gave the government until midnight to fully implement the CBA as agreed or they will down their tools.

UASU Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga on Friday told reporters in Nairobi that lecturers were yet to receive the pay they agreed on in March.

“If the CBA is not implemented by close of business today all university lecturers and professors in all Kenyan public universities shall withhold their services effective from today and the strike shall continue until the registered 2013-2017 CBA is fully implemented,” Mr Wasonga said.

BIG STRIKE

“The CBA remains paperwork and lecturers remain impoverished and without dignity and no one in government seems ready to address their plight.

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• University staff to receive Sh10bn arrears

"The government and the university councils seemingly want the higher education sector to suffer again and again until it collapses,” Mr Wasonga added.

According to the registered CBA and the return-to-work formula, the government and university councils undertook to implement the CBA on or before June 30, 2017.

“This will be the grandmother of all strikes. Lecturers are more energetic and determined than ever to fight for their dignity and constitutional rights,” Mr Wasonga said.

At least 33 public universities and their constituent colleges across the country, with more than 500,000 students, will be affected should the dons make good on their threat.

HUGE ARREARS

In March this year, Uasu and university councils agreed to sign the 2013-2017 CBA, ending a 54-day strike that paralysed learning and research in all public universities starting January 19.

The highlight of the CBA was that the lecturers will get a 17.5 per cent increase in basic salaries and a 3.9 per cent increase in house allowance across the board, except for Maasai Mara University, for which previous higher raises had been taken into account.

According to the CBA, the academic staff were to benefit from arrears that have accrued over the four years of the CBA, covering the period from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2017.

In early February, the union rejected a Sh10 billion offer from the public university grouping IPUCCF on the grounds that it was inadequate and failed to harmonise the dons' salaries.

The first IPUCCF offer gave lecturers a 3.2 and 1.6pc increase on salaries and house allowance, respectively, but Uasu turned it down, asking instead for 30 and 20 per cent, respectively.

Kusu Secretary-General Charles Mukhwaya said lecturers were extremely disappointed by the government's failure to implement a CBA that they signed and registered in court.

“The government and the university councils are therefore in open violation of the CBA and the return-to-work formula,”

Representatives of the two unions accused the government of not caring about the youths in universities.

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