Learning in secondary schools could be paralysed after the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) gave Teachers Service Commission (TSC) a 7-day ultimatum to begin talks on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The Union says it has already notified the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Dr Alfred Mutua, after TSC allegedly remained quiet despite being served with a letter concerning the proposed CBA.
The Union officials are concerned that the current CBA which was signed on July 13, 2021 ends on June 30, 2025 and without a new one, teachers who are its members will be overexposed to challenges with their employer.
The new CBA is supposed to be signed and run for four years from June 2025 to 2029 where new negotiations will be discussed.
The officials warned that if the TSC would not have acted within the seven days, then they would call for a nationwide strike, withdraw labour and demonstrate until the employer heeds their call.
Speaking to the Media in Kakamega on Friday, KUPPET’s Secretary General, Akello Misori, said they are worried that the employer has become silent over the matter that is meant to address teacher’s welfare to motivate them to teach better.
“We have already written to the Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection to register a dispute with our employer. That letter has given the minister seven days to ensure that he processes our relationship with the employer because that is the only option left for us. We don’t want our members to be over-exposed in the event that there is no CBA beyond 30th June,” Misori noted.
In the new CBA, KUPPET has proposed a 50 per cent basic pay increment for teachers on the higher grades and a 100 percent increment for lower cadre personnel.
“A house allowance was supposed to be harmonised first and then an increment of 20 percent, effected across board,” said Misori.
He also noted that the union in the new CBA has proposed an increment of 200 per cent for those on higher grades and 250 per cent increment on lower grades on commuter allowance.
“We are also proposing 100 per cent hardship allowance increment and hazardous allowances of 20 percent of the basic pay,” he added.
He noted that teachers were supposed to get daily subsistence allowances when they are out for sports or other co-curricular activities according to their salary scales.
“We also have a proposal to have one-month basic salary as leave allowance, currently we have got a flat rate arrangement according to various job groups,” he added.
Misori also asked the employer to consider overtime allowance according to their scales.
“We have proposed risk allowances since some of us are exposed to the extreme risks of insecurity in banditry prone areas and areas prone to attacks,” he added.
KUPPET Chair, Omboko Milemba, asked TSC, Ministry of Labour and the National Assembly Education Committee to be responsible and address the plight of teachers.
Milemba also warned of attempts to scrap the National Exams fee subsidy which he said will be undermining basic education.
“Examination fee is part and parcel of the basic education which is supposed to be free and compulsory, so if you remove examination fee you are actually touching the constitution and especially Article 53 which makes education free and compulsory,” he added.
