Teachers who are members of Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) were denied salary raises and promotions because they fell under the Scheme of Services, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) announced.
Some 47,131 teachers in job group B5 were promoted by the Commission to job group C1 using their TSC's Career Progression Guidelines (CPG). Those were the ones who either belonged to Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) or were non-unionised.
However, 32,556 missed out after the human resource commission for teachers stated that they fell under the Schemes of Service proposed by KNUT.
TSC has sidelined the Schemes of Services program proposed by the Wilson Sossion-led union as is contained in the Code of Regulations and Code of Conduct and Ethics for Teachers
TSC Communication Director Beatrice Wababu added that another 32,051 teachers in Job Group B5 did not qualify for promotion.
KNUT Secretary- General decried discrimination by the commission stating that they would not be silenced urging its members to remain calm.
"The illegal, discriminative and blatant abuse of teachers' constitutional rights is the highest form of unfair labour practice that violates all ILO conventions, standards and treaties. The aim is to permanently kill KNUT and silence its members once and for all," he stated.
The wrangles between KNUT and TSC have seen many teachers leave the Union so as to get their pay rise.
The promoted grade B5 teachers, who have been earning a basic salary of between 21,756 and Ksh 27,195 have been paid Ksh 27,195 and Ksh 33,994 in the month of July, 2020
Teachers can access their payslip via an online portal that allows them to download their payslips and access their details on T-Pay even on their mobile phones.
TSC moved to the Employment and Labour Relations Court on December 31, 2018, after KNUT issued a strike notice over the implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
“The court ruling that the terms and conditions of service for KNUT members be applied within the framework of schemes of service and not CPG has made it extremely difficult for the commission to implement the CBA,” TSC stated after a court ruling.
Sossion, on the other hand, argued that the commission was victimising teachers for belonging to a Union.
