Kenyans were treated to a rare spectacle on Friday, August 30, as the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary Generals clashed live on air.
Teachers Union KUPPET has refused to back down in their industrial action with Secretary General Akelo Misori maintaining that the strike would continue despite a court order on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, KNUT called off their strike at the eleventh hour, despite initial plans by teachers to down their tools on Monday, August 26.
Amid a huge wave of uncertainty in the Kenyan education sector, KNUT's Collins Oyuu and KUPPET Secretary General Akelo Misori were presented on the same stage in an interview with Spice FM to shed some light on the differences between the two sister unions.
Expectedly, jabs were thrown between the two leaders, with Oyuu saying KNUT backed off from industrial action because some of the two unions' collective demands were met.
He added that the union also had the welfare of learners in mind when they called off their strike.
"When you go to the negotiation table with 10 issues and you've scored seven out of 10, do you insist that you must remain there for the other three?" he posed. "it is dangerous to engage in strike action when you have achieved key issues."
Once he joined the interview, Misori accused KNUT of colluding with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
The KUPPET Secretary General wondered why KNUT called off their strike despite TSC's failure to address some fundamental issues presented in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
"We had a meeting at the Kenya School of Government. The TSC told us in words that they had money to pay teachers, but as KUPPET, we wanted to see an official implementation of the CBA. It was not there," Oyuu explained.
The KUPPET Secretary General added that TSC wanted the two unions to hold a joint press statement to call off the strike, but they turned down the request.
One of Misori's biggest concerns is the fact that the TSC failed to address the question of promoting 130,000 teachers, some of whom have been on the same paycheck and position for over a decade.
The union also wants 46,000 other teachers to be confirmed on permanent and pensionable terms.
