The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general, Collins Oyuu, says talks on revising the CBA 2021 – 2025 to include monetary terms will take time.
This means teachers will not get a CBA salary increment this July as most expected. Though Oyuu did not give timelines, he said the talks will be concluded after the August general elections.
“We cannot sit back and watch when teachers cannot put food on the table. We will have cordial dialogue with TSC to ensure they heed our demands.
“We have started the process with the outgoing government and we shall have it finalised by the new government after the August polls,” said Oyuu
He said the meeting in Naivasha with TSC pushed for teachers’ monetary gain which was agreed through structured talks.
TSC was in a series of meetings with Knut from Tuesday 5th to Friday 8th July 2022 to strike a deal on salary increment for teachers among other issues.
Many teachers were however waiting for Oyuu to address them on the CBA offer tabled by TSC during the Naivasha talks.
Last week Hesbon Otieno, who is also the Knut Deputy secretary general, kept teachers hopeful when he said the talks on salary increment as well as other issues affecting teachers were discussed and concluded.
“I can pronounce here that we had a cordial discussion that ended on Friday and that we have successfully concluded our meeting with TSC,” said Otieno amid applause by teachers
He said the talks on CBA agreement with TSC will be revealed to the public led by their secretary general Collins Oyuu.
“We will reveal information at the right time and the secretary general himself will speak and the whole of the republic will know the discussion we are having with the Teachers Service Commission,” said Otieno.
However Oyuu now says the talks have just started and teachers should be patient as the deal can only be reached after polls.
Knut is demanding for 60 percent salary rise which they submitted as a proposal to the Commission for review during the talks.
Mr Oyuu said TSC should present the teacher’s salary proposal to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to ensure that teachers receive salary increment soonest.
“We both agreed to have a structured conversation and we agreed to have a structured salary increment,” he said.
Oyuu said that last year they signed the 2021–2025 non-monetary CBA after assuming office but with the high cost of living, the CBA must be reviewed to ensure the teachers get a salary increment.
“The inflation rate at the moment doesn’t allow that we hold several boardroom meetings with the employer, government agencies and even friends without mentioning the aspect of a monetary gain. Teachers want money and not stories,” said Oyuu.
“President Uhuru Kenyatta awarded all informal workers a 12 per cent salary increment on Labour Day, this shows the economy has improved. We are announcing that we have started a structured negotiation with TSC to see that a 60 per cent salary rise is awarded.”
Knut was also in discussion with TSC on the Parliamentary recommendations which ordered promotion of teachers who upgraded their certificates.
Parliament recommended that the TSC should continue recognizing and acknowledging higher qualifications acquired by teachers while in service.
“Our position as Knut was and continues to be that promotion policy be reviewed to accommodate, motivate and encourage teachers with higher academic qualifications so that their effort doesn’t go to waste,” said Collins Oyuu, Knut secretary general.
On Teacher Professional Development (TPD), Knut has agreed with TSC to launch a sensitization programme for teachers to embrace the training programme.
The teachers’ union which now boasts of over 115,000 members further says that the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) that was rolled out in 2013, was a good initiative but TSC did not invest in the sensitization of teachers on its need, usefulness and its benefits.
Oyuu said that Knut and TSC agreed that the commission organises sensitisation workshops for all teachers so as to make them understand TPD and its implementation.
In refresher training courses, Oyuu said that the resistance that was witnessed after the TPD programme was rolled out was occasioned by the fact that proper sensitization was not done.