Both the Knut and Kuppet have rejected the recent salary increment announced by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich announced a two year salary increment of 7 to 10% for teachers and civil servants to be paid in August and backdated from 1st July.
Teachers, classified among the poorly paid government employees will get a 10% payrise paid in two phases.
Knut secretary general, Collins Oyuu, rubbished the increment by SRC tering it a drop in the ocean.
Oyuu says its a government way of giving with one hand and taking with another through taxes.
Knut is pushing for a 60% salary increment while Kuppet wants 70%. The two unions are pushing for the increment through a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
TSC has invited the two teachers unions for talks which start tomorrow at the Kenya School of Government at Lower Kabete, Nairobi.
In an invitation letter, TSC want to review the 2021-2025 CBA it signed with the unions but failed to include salary changes.
If successful Kuppet will change salaries of teachers in job group C2 who currently earn Sh34,955 to take home Sh74,279.
Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori said the union will reject the seven to 10 per cent salary proposed by the SRC.
“We shall focus on where our CBA talks stalled. We shall not slide to new proposals because we had already started talks on the salaries,” said Misori.
The SRC proposals mean that the lowest-paid teacher who takes home Sh34,955 will get a maximum of Sh46,752.
While those presently earning Sh131,380 will get a maximum of Sh168,691 per month.
Misori said that basic salary increment, promotions, medical benefits and pension scheme will top their agenda.
He said that the 30-70 per cent demand by Kuppet is informed by the high cost of living which has reduced teachers’ disposable income.
Misori said the inflation rate has risen over time and teachers are not able to afford basic needs.
“The statutory deductions introduced recently namely the housing tax, superannuation pension scheme and NSSF have contributed to net income reduction thereby affecting productivity of teachers,” said Misori.
He also said that majority of teachers have stagnated in same job group for long even after enhancing their academics.
“Many graduate teachers in job Group C3 have stagnated for more than five years while many diploma teachers have stagnated in grade C2. We propose a creation of more establishments in C4 to allow career progression,” Misori said.
He blamed the employer for not implementing the career progression guidelines on promotions which has seen some 46,550 teachers stagnate in same job group.