The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has threatened the government that its members will resume mass street protests in 2017.
The Union on Friday stated that teachers would go on strike if the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) fails to implement an earlier agreement signed between the parties.
According to the Union, the agreement should be implemented by June 2017.
Speaking during a delegates meeting in Malindi, KUPPET Chairman Omboko Milemba disclosed that the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which increased teachers' salaries was yet to be actualised.
“We are waiting for implementation of the CBA and come June next year we will be on a war path if the government fails to meet our bargain. These CBAs is the reason why doctors are on strike,” stated KUPPET.
The Union further accused TSC of having forced close to 15,000 of its members out of KUPPET by asking them to undergo a validation process.
“In 2013, we signed a CBA and the matter ended in court. Two others were later signed but added a little salary. Teachers left the Union not because they wanted but because the government forced members out,” asserted Milemba.
In October 2015, teachers ended a five-week strike which had brought learning to a halt following the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
An agreement was signed which raised the salary of the lowest paid teacher from Sh16,000 to Sh27,000 while the highest paid was to earn up to Sh157,000.
The teachers' warning has been issued amid the ongoing countrywide strike by doctors which has paralysed operations in most of the public hospitals with a similar bargaining agreement being the bone of contention.
