Teachers’ Pay Rise Talk As KNUT, TSC Meets Tomorrow
The Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) and teachers’ unions are working together to reach an agreement by reviewing the non-monetary Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to allow for salary increases for teachers.
Teachers will meet with their employer this week to discuss career advancement guidelines and the possibility of a pay raise.
Collins Oyuu, secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), said the union and TSC will meet in Naivasha to discuss an Education Committee report and teachers’ professional development training, among other issues affecting members.
Mr. Oyuu stated that the meeting will begin on Tuesday evening and conclude on Friday.
He stated that they hope to restart discussions on the review of the 2021-25 collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which did not include a pay increase for teachers.
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The CBA also allows male teachers to take paternity leave and allows teachers in arid and semi-arid areas to be promoted.
Other teachers will not see a pay increase for the next five years, from 2021 to 2025.
Mr. Oyuu claimed that in the year since his team took over, they have recruited 100,000 new members, increasing membership to 115,000, up from 15,000 when he was elected on June 26 last year.
“When I came in as secretary general, Knut was facing many challenges ranging from low membership, financial starvation, to a bad blood that had been created and existed with the TSC,” he told Sunday Nation.
The figure was lower than the 187,000 Knut had a few years ago.
Currently, Mr Oyuu stated, all 110 Knut branches are fully operational, all employees are receiving their salaries on time, staff medical coverage has been restored, and the union is gradually repaying the arrears accumulated over two years before he took over.
Other teachers will not see a pay increase for the next five years, from 2021 to 2025.
Due to the union’s financial crisis, several branch offices were closed, and office equipment such as chairs, desks, and computers were auctioned off.
In one branch, a union bus was auctioned off. The head office was also auctioned off, with some furniture removed due to debt.
“Every month we are paying up to Sh14 million to repay the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), pensions and other arrears owed by the union.”
The union owed KRA over Sh301 million when the new leadership took over, according to the new leadership.
It also owed millions of dollars to other creditors. He stated that all union retirees have received their pensions and that other debts are being paid.
His leadership, however, has not been without criticism.
A group of teachers has accused Mr. Oyuu and other union officials of compromising the union’s position in order to please the employer.
“I will not entertain those who resigned or those who lost elections,” he said, adding that one of the challenges he has faced is that Knut expected the TSC to raise salaries.
“I have the interest of teachers at heart and seeing teachers receive a salary increase through a well negotiated CBA is among my priorities.”
TSC is hiring 14,460 people to fill staffing gaps.
Mr. Oyuu stated that, while the road to restoring Knut has not been easy, establishing harmonious industrial relations in the education sector, particularly with the TSC and the Ministry of Education, has been a top priority.
“Trade unionism is about creating harmony with all the stakeholders. We cannot operate without relating well with the employer and this is what I have been doing so that as I fight for teachers’ rights, the employer is able to listen and invite us to a negotiating table.”
Knut had become a shell of its former self before he was elected, having lost over 172,000 members.
In addition, the union was involved in several court cases challenging TSC policies affecting teachers.
The squabbles resulted in reduced funding, which was blamed on the TSC’s failure to remit union dues.
When he took over, Mr Oyuu rescinded all of Knut’s cases against the TSC, signed a demarcation agreement with the employer, limiting the union to only representing teachers in primary schools, and overturned decisions that had strained relations with the employer.
Wilson Sossion, an ODM-nominated MP, was among those who opposed the demarcation policy.
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Teachers’ Pay Rise Talk As KNUT, TSC Meets Tomorrow
