Members of the Universities Staff Academic Union during a protest on July 3, 2017. PHOTO | ANTHONY OMUYA | NMG
Public universities’ bosses have moved to court to overturn the
ongoing lecturers strike accusing the dons of reneging on pay talks.
The
Vice-Chancellors’ Committee says it was unlawful for the University
Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and Kenya Universities Academic Staff Union
(Kusu) to call the strike yet talks are ongoing over salary review
running from July 2017 to 2021.
Public university
lecturers resumed a nationwide strike last Thursday over low pay, nearly
three months after ending a similar protest. The dons have cited lack
of goodwill from the Inter-Public Universities Council Consultative
Forum (IPCCF) on the issue.
“It is imperative and of
urgency that this court issues an injunction against the industrial
action called for by Uasu as it is unlawful and will disrupt the forum’s
operations unjustifiably as well as set a bad precedent for industrial
relations,” IPCCF said.
The forum told the court that it has not refused or failed to
engage in negotiations with Uasu, which has challenged the
vice-chancellors to table an offer.
Uasu accuses IPCCF of failing to table a counter offer on five consecutive occasions since May last year.
According
to the union, the forum reneged on its promises to table the
counter-offer on May 31 and July 1, 2017, as well as on January 31,
February 13 and February 21, 2018.
A strike over the
same grievances ended in December after the lecturers said they had
reached an agreement with the government for a rise in salaries.
The
vice chancellors accuse the union of deliberately quitting talks on
salary review yet there is a mutually agreed ongoing process to resolve
the stalemate.
In case documents, the forum alleged
that there was no stalemate yet and that it would suffer irreparably if
the lecturers continued with the strike.
“Students are
in the middle of their school sessions and the unprotected strike will
cause disruptions, frustrations, hamper reasonable attendance to
class as well as examinations and interfere with whole academic calendar
of universities,” IPCCF said.
It also pointed out the dates in which seven meetings on the matter have been held with the latest being on February 21.
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