KNUT Issues Warning to TSC Over Delayed Salaries

Former nominated Member of parliament Wilson Sossion.
Former Nominated Member of Parliament, Wilson Sossion
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The Kenya National Union of Teachers on Saturday, February 20, warned the Teachers Service Commission against delaying teachers' salaries. 

KNUT gave the commission 30 days to have paid teachers failure to which they will institute a nationwide strike.

Speaking during the KNUT elections in City Primary School, Wilson Sossion claimed that some of their offices had closed down due to delayed union dues coming from TSC.

"We have many options to use to ensure our concerns are addressed and one of them is organizing a strike," said Sossion.

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Teachers Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia addresses the media in January 2020 in Nairobi
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"For instance, these election expenses were catered for by global teachers unions that have gone through what we are going through. We will be taking a register of our members and we are looking at other ways including the use of standing orders if the checkoff system through TSC will fail because even other such unions throughout the world are using the same method," he added.

KNUT had on Monday, February 15, issued a two weeks strike notice to TSC threatening to take industrial action over salary raises. Sossion said the current teachers' salary rates of Ksh 54 billion, negotiated to cover 2017-2021, would end in June 2021. 

He further argued that TSC had failed to respond to requests to start negotiations on the 2021-2025 new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

KNUT complained that TSC had not involved them in the negotiations when they submitted salary proposals to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC). The teachers’ employer proposed a 16 to 30 percent salary raise in the 2021-2025 CBA proposals.

The 16 percent raise in basic pay was intended for teachers in administrative grades (C4 to D5), while the 30 percent increment would majorly benefit classroom teachers in lower grades (B5 to C3).

KNUT has also had issues with TSC's Careers Progression Guidelines (CPG) saying it was illegal to promote teachers based on the performance of the learner.

"The code of regulation for teachers which is under the law recognizes promotion based on the years the teacher has worked and on merit unlike what TSC wants to use," said Sossion.

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Teachers at the Ministry of Education's CBC training in 2020
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