The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) acting CEO and Secretary Eveleen Mitei will lead fresh Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) talks with teacher unions.

Ms Mitei has already invited teachers unions for the talks that will unlock a payrise for thousands of teachers in TSC payroll.

The talks which are aimed to strike a deal through a CBA 2025 – 2029 will start next week at Upper Hill Nairobi.

Ms Mitei who is standing for TSC CEO Nancy Macharia, who took a terminal leave and is set to retire on 30th June, has invited the Kenya Union of Post Primary School Teachers (KUPPET) to start the talks on 2nd July 2025.

The invitation comes just days after the KUPPET issued a seven day strike notice over stalled CBA talks.

In a circular addressed to Kuppet secretary general, Akelo Misori, Ms Mitei says she wants to meet the union officials early next week for a CBA consultative meeting.

“The Commission invites you to a consultative meeting on CBA 2025 – 2029 on Wednesday 2nd July, 2025 at 10:00am at the Commission Chairmans’ Boardroom,” says Mitei in the circular.

The current CBA 2021 – 2025 is set to expire on 30th June and teachers can only get a salary increment through a new CBA.

The talks spark a ray of hope for teachers who were disturbed after the national budget was read without salary components.

Now teachers are assured that their salaries and allowances will be reviewed upward after the talks are concluded and a deal is signed.

The new salary increment will likely be effected in the July payroll. Treasury will implement the CBA through a supplementary budget.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) is demanding a 60 percent adjustment in basic salaries over the four-year period, pegged on inflation, alongside a 30 percent increase in allowances.

KNUT is further pushing for a rise in hardship allowances and joint consultations by the employer regarding review or declassification of any hardship area.

“The Employer and the Union shall jointly undertake periodic review of the areas to be classified and/or declassified as hardship areas. Any party wishing to make a review of the hardship areas shall provide three month’s written notice of the intention to make such a review, including the nature of the review to the other party,” reads the KNUT proposal in part.

Hardship refers to the challenging conditions faced by teachers working in designated areas characterized by factors such as remoteness, lack of infrastructure, and insecurity being the most prevalent.

On risk allowance, KNUT is demanding that all teachers handling technical and science subjects be entitled to a monthly risk allowance at a rate of 10 percent of their basic salary, with TSC and the union jointly undertaking periodic review of the categories of employees eligible for payment of risk allowance.

Subsequently, the annual leave as captured in the proposed CBA, KNUT demands that after completion of 12 month’s aggregated service with an employer, a teacher shall be entitled to 30 working days’ annual leave with full pay.

Newly recruited teachers, on the other hand, shall be granted paid annual leave on a pro rata basis, considering the date of appointment.

The annual leave, as per the proposed CBA, shall be taken at a time that is convenient to the employer, but the individual teacher’s circumstances shall be considered.

“No annual leave shall be delayed for more than two months without the consent of the employee concerned. Where employment is terminated after completion of two months or more months’ aggregate
service during any leave-earning period, the teacher in question shall be entitled to pro-rata leave days with full pay and a pro-rata leave travelling allowance,” reads further the CBA document.

“A teacher who is required by the employer to postpone his/her leave beyond the leave year in which
it falls will be allowed to defer such leave to the following year, provided that the total leave due will be taken before the end of the next leave year,” it adds.

Regarding the sick leave, KNUT wants in the submitted 2025-2029 CBA that after two consecutive
months of service with TSC and subject to production by the teacher of a medical certificate of incapacity from a medical practitioner or a person acting on the practitioner’s behalf in a registered hospital, health
Centre, dispensary, or medical aid center, a teacher shall be entitled to a one-year sick leave with pay, where the first 180 days will be with full pay while the next 180 days will be with half pay.

“Any teacher seeking sick leave with full pay shall notify or cause to be notified his/her employer of his/
her absence on account of sickness within 48 hours. Online application shall also apply. No teacher shall be terminated on account of sickness without his/her express authority,” reads the CBA.

KNUT is also proposing that teachers be granted convalescent leave for such a period as is recommended by a medical practitioner or a person acting on the practitioner’s behalf in a registered hospital, a health Centre, a dispensary, or a medical aid Centre.

Convalescent leave is a period of absence from work or duty, typically granted to allow for recovery from an illness or injury, which is specifically designed to facilitate healing and recuperation before returning to full duties.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) acting CEO and Secretary Eveleen Mitei will lead fresh Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) talks with teacher unions.

Ms Mitei has already invited teachers unions for the talks that will unlock a payrise for thousands of teachers in TSC payroll.

The talks which are aimed to strike a deal through a CBA 2025 – 2029 will start next week at Upper Hill Nairobi.

Ms Mitei who is standing for TSC CEO Nancy Macharia, who took a terminal leave and is set to retire on 30th June, has invited the Kenya Union of Post Primary School Teachers (KUPPET) to start the talks on 2nd July 2025.

The invitation comes just days after the KUPPET issued a seven day strike notice over stalled CBA talks.

In a circular addressed to Kuppet secretary general, Akelo Misori, Ms Mitei says she wants to meet the union officials early next week for a CBA consultative meeting.

“The Commission invites you to a consultative meeting on CBA 2025 – 2029 on Wednesday 2nd July, 2025 at 10:00am at the Commission Chairmans’ Boardroom,” says Mitei in the circular.

The current CBA 2021 – 2025 is set to expire on 30th June and teachers can only get a salary increment through a new CBA.

The talks spark a ray of hope for teachers who were disturbed after the national budget was read without salary components.

Now teachers are assured that their salaries and allowances will be reviewed upward after the talks are concluded and a deal is signed.

The new salary increment will likely be effected in the July payroll. Treasury will implement the CBA through a supplementary budget.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) is demanding a 60 percent adjustment in basic salaries over the four-year period, pegged on inflation, alongside a 30 percent increase in allowances.

KNUT is further pushing for a rise in hardship allowances and joint consultations by the employer regarding review or declassification of any hardship area.

“The Employer and the Union shall jointly undertake periodic review of the areas to be classified and/or declassified as hardship areas. Any party wishing to make a review of the hardship areas shall provide three month’s written notice of the intention to make such a review, including the nature of the review to the other party,” reads the KNUT proposal in part.

Hardship refers to the challenging conditions faced by teachers working in designated areas characterized by factors such as remoteness, lack of infrastructure, and insecurity being the most prevalent.

On risk allowance, KNUT is demanding that all teachers handling technical and science subjects be entitled to a monthly risk allowance at a rate of 10 percent of their basic salary, with TSC and the union jointly undertaking periodic review of the categories of employees eligible for payment of risk allowance.

Subsequently, the annual leave as captured in the proposed CBA, KNUT demands that after completion of 12 month’s aggregated service with an employer, a teacher shall be entitled to 30 working days’ annual leave with full pay.

Newly recruited teachers, on the other hand, shall be granted paid annual leave on a pro rata basis, considering the date of appointment.

The annual leave, as per the proposed CBA, shall be taken at a time that is convenient to the employer, but the individual teacher’s circumstances shall be considered.

“No annual leave shall be delayed for more than two months without the consent of the employee concerned. Where employment is terminated after completion of two months or more months’ aggregate
service during any leave-earning period, the teacher in question shall be entitled to pro-rata leave days with full pay and a pro-rata leave travelling allowance,” reads further the CBA document.

“A teacher who is required by the employer to postpone his/her leave beyond the leave year in which
it falls will be allowed to defer such leave to the following year, provided that the total leave due will be taken before the end of the next leave year,” it adds.

Regarding the sick leave, KNUT wants in the submitted 2025-2029 CBA that after two consecutive
months of service with TSC and subject to production by the teacher of a medical certificate of incapacity from a medical practitioner or a person acting on the practitioner’s behalf in a registered hospital, health
Centre, dispensary, or medical aid center, a teacher shall be entitled to a one-year sick leave with pay, where the first 180 days will be with full pay while the next 180 days will be with half pay.

“Any teacher seeking sick leave with full pay shall notify or cause to be notified his/her employer of his/
her absence on account of sickness within 48 hours. Online application shall also apply. No teacher shall be terminated on account of sickness without his/her express authority,” reads the CBA.

KNUT is also proposing that teachers be granted convalescent leave for such a period as is recommended by a medical practitioner or a person acting on the practitioner’s behalf in a registered hospital, a health Centre, a dispensary, or a medical aid Centre.

Convalescent leave is a period of absence from work or duty, typically granted to allow for recovery from an illness or injury, which is specifically designed to facilitate healing and recuperation before returning to full duties.