The Salaries and Renumeration Commission (SRC) has ended the debate on whether there will be a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in July for teachers.
According to SRC The National Treasury advised it that due to the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on the performance of the revenue and the expected slow economic recovery the Commission should consider postponing the review for the next two fiscal years until the economy improves.
Following the advise SRC says there will be no review of the basic salary structures, allowances and benefits paid in the public sector in the financial year 2021/2022-2022/23.
Below is a statement by SRC;
Outcome of remuneration and benefits in the Third Remuneration Review Cycle
The review of remuneration and benefits in the third review cycle is informed by outcomes of the job evaluation and grading, labour market salary surveys and a review of the current salary structures in the public sector.
Implementation of the outcome of the third remuneration and benefits review cycle is projected to cost Ksh 82 billion over a four-fiscal-year period.
Pursuant to the constitutional principle of affordability and fiscal sustainability, SRC engaged the National Treasury on the projected cost.
The National Treasury advised the Commission that due to the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on the performance of the revenue and the expected slow economic recovery;
a) The Commission to consider postponing the review for the next two fiscal years until the economy improves, and
b) The National Treasury will review the performance of the economy and advise SRC as/and when the review can be done based on the prevailing circumstances to ensure affordability and fiscal sustainability.
Pursuant to SRC’s mandate to set, and regularly review the remuneration and benefits of State officers, and to advise on the remuneration and benefits of all other public officers, the Commission considered the advice of the National Treasury, the constitutional principles and SRC Act principle on remuneration and benefits and hereby, states as follows;
Notwithstanding the need to enhance equity and fairness through harmonization of salary structures, Implementation of job evaluation results and the need to review salary structures;
Cognisant of the government’s financial constraints, the current wage bill ratios, the need to release resources for investment in the strategic priorities of the government to jumpstart the Covid-19-ravaged economy;
1) There will be no review of the basic salary structures, allowances and benefits paid in the public sector in the financial year 2021/2022-2022/23;
2) Annual salary notch adjustments in existing salary structures, as set or advised by SRC, will continue to be applied within budget allocation;
3) No additional funding will be provided for implementation of the job evaluation results in the financial year 2021-2022 and 2022/2023;
4) Public sector institutions may implement job evaluation results, by placing jobs in their rightful job evaluation grading, within the existing salary structures and approved budgets, subject to confirmation to SRC that the funding is provided for in the current budget;
5) Public sector institutions will be required to fully implement the Allowances and Benefits Policy; and
6) SRC will review the situation after two fiscal years, and based on the status of the economy, guide on the way forward far the remaining period of the third remuneration and benefits review cyde.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) had assured that talks on new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) have not collapsed and that it will give directions on new CBA next weeks.
Two days ago TSC was hard pressed to issue its counter offer for the new CBA which it said it will provide after a week.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Secretary General Akelo Misori wrote to Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Secretary Nancy Macharia on the need to have structured talks ahead of July CBA.
“As a union, we have diligently discharged our obligation under the Labour Relations Act, but the government has been dragging its feet for more than a year,” said Akello Misori, the Kuppet secretary general.
Kuppet has since issued a seven day strike notice should SRC and TSC fail to convene a meeting.
Misori issued a seven-day strike notice to the TSC on Thursday, June 3 affirming that teachers will down their tools if they do not receive salary increments or promotions.
SRC Chairperson Lyn Mengich said that the commission was looking into the submissions made by TSC regarding the teachers’ proposals on their salaries.
“Please note that the commission is looking into the submission, the outcome will be communicated. We will give directives in the next two weeks,” said Mengich.
TSC had claimed that the directives from SRC are key to guiding them on matters regarding the teachers’ salaries.
“The directives from the SRC are the ones to guide the TSC, without that communication the teachers’ employer is actually helpless,” said a source at TSC.
Teachers unions comprising of Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET), Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya National Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) have been decrying the delay of the negotiation process of the CBA deal.
“Teachers expect nothing other than a salary review this year. We have gathered that TSC was advised by the SRC, but TSC has not shared the advisory with us,” Misori stated.
Among the demands Misori fronted to the TSC includes a 70 percent pay rise for teachers.
TSC has been at loggerheads with KNUT and KUPPET over several key issues regarding the welfares of the teachers.
KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion has been at the forefront faulting the commission for crippling the union and not dealing with the teachers’ grievances.
“TSC should not put us in the collision course with the government, and disrupt the industrial peace in the teaching service by engaging in mischievous and illegal ways of conceiving, negotiating and implementing the CBA,” he stated during a past interview.
The current CBA, signed in 2017 was implemented in phases for the last four years at a cost of Sh54 billion and will expire on June 30, 2021.
The implementation of the new CBA is supposed to begin on July 1, 2021.
In April National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani wrote to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) that his ministry will not release close to Sh83 billion in salary increment that the State owes civil servants and teachers.
In a letter dated March 18 and addressed to Anne Gitau, the Commission Secretary at SRC, Yatani attributed this to budgetary constraints due to the upcoming General Election and the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The next elections, Yatani said, will cost taxpayers a total of Sh42 billion.
“We have already factored Sh10 billion in the Financial Year 2021-22 ceilings for the preparatory activities,” said Yatani, adding that the remaining balance will be factored in the next financial year.
This combined with a drop in taxes collected, Yatani said, forced the Exchequer to set aside only Sh6.8 billion, or 10 per cent of the Sh68 billion meant for the four-year salary reviews for national government workers in the upcoming budget. This excludes county workers.
The remaining cash would be released in phases in the financial years 2022to 2023-2024 to 2025.
However, labour union leaders castigated Yatani for using elections and Covid-19 as a reason to withhold their dues.
“The Government and employers should prepare for stiff resistance from unions,” said Wilson Sossion, Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General, adding that the economy was more than capable of accommodating Sh83 billion, with close to two-fifths of this earmarked for teachers.
The National Treasury has projected that it will collect Sh1.76 trillion in taxes in the financial year beginning July even as it seeks to turbo-charge an economy that has been devastated by the pandemic.
“Further, due to the negative effects of Covid-19 on the economy we expect the economy and the projected slow recovery, revenue performance over the next two years,” said Yatani.
The National Treasury had earlier stated that it expected the economy to recover this year, growing at around seven per cent compared to slower estimated growth of 0.6 per cent in 2020.
A rebound in growth will largely depend on a return in investor confidence as infection rates go down. A faster rollout of the vaccine programme is also expected to help sectors such as aviation and hotel to return to normal.
After two successive quarters in which the economy contracted, the business climate seems to have recovered in the fourth quarter of last year after President Uhuru Kenyatta eased most of the containment measures.
But the optimism that was beginning to show bloom seems to have been blunted by a third wave of infections that saw the president introduce enhanced containment measures, including putting five counties on lockdown.
Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli said globally economies have been devastated by the pandemic.
“But counties make annual budgets. We do not have to wait for four years to think of workers’ plight,” said Atwoli.
He said the money being borrowed should be used to support Kenyans.
“I said it that the billions we are borrowing should supplement our budgetary allocations and also fight of Covid-19. But not to be pocketed by a few individuals,” said Atwoli.
The Public Finance Management Act 2012, however, does not allow the Government to use borrowed money to pay salaries.
Sossion said excessive borrowing in the economy cannot be used to punish workers.
“The CBAs must be funded as recommended by SRC. The Treasury and government cannot undermine what has been recommended by SRC,” said the nominated MP.
Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) said the Government must look for money for the workers’ CBAs or risk an industrial action.
“Kenyans pay taxes and workers are the Kenyans. So they will have to get what is due to them. The Government must look for money to implement CBAs,” said Charles Mukhwaya, KUSU Secretary General.
“Sh6 billion is a drop in the ocean and a big joke.”
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Secretary General Akelo Misori declined to comment on the matter. “No comment at the moment,” said Misori.
This comes after Kuppet held a three-day retreat in Naivasha to iron out pending issues under the present CBA and to lay ground for the next phase of the agreement.
Insiders in the union however said the move would be a major setback for classroom teachers, who were expected to largely benefit from the next CBA.
Classroom teachers were given a raw deal under the present Sh53 billion CBA as it awarded staff with supervisory roles such as head teachers and their deputies.
Union of Kenya Civil Servants Deputy Secretary General Jerry ole Kina said they are in the last phase of their CBA and noted that they have been in talks with the Government.
“We have been trying to monitor the development. We are expecting the Ministry of Public Service tomorrow (Monday). We have been in discussion. Before we can comment, let’s hear them first,” said Kina.
“If it’s a positive answer we shall welcome. If this is for entire public service then we need to know the fine details of what they are talking about.”
Atwoli took issue with the manner in which public servants’ CBAs have been structured.
CBAs, he said, should be of two-year cycles and not four years as is the present practice.
“And they have arm-twisted the unions to accept the four-year cycle, which is illegal, unconstitutionality against the ILO (International Labour Organisation) conventions,” said Atwoli.
The Cotu boss said with two years cycle the issue of general elections would not arise.
He however said for good industrial relations, the Government must call unions and employers such as the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to a meeting for presentations and justifications for their planned actions.
“Meet all the union leaders and explain to them why they want to pay less and also allow unions to ask questions like why pay less and Kenyans are paying taxes,” said Atwoli.