Over 190,000 teachers are not members of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET). They will be required to pay agency fees to continue enjoying the perks of the newly signed 2021- 2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
This is the last resort of the union, which is reportedly short on cash. KNUT and KUPPET attribute this to an apparent inability to receive agency fees since June 2019. In this period, KNUT endured squabbles with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) which followed a split. KNUT has however announced plans to revive the submission of agency fees to fund its daily operations.
On Thursday, July 1, auctioneers raided KNUT’s headquarters along Nairobi’s Mfangano Street and carted away equipment and furniture worth Ksh1.4 million. Additionally, the union’s secretaries across the country had not been paid in two years.
The incident occurred after Wilson Sossion's resignation as Secretary-General of the union on June 25. New management led by Collins Oyuu took over.
KNUT’s laws require non-members to remit 2 percent of their basic salaries to have access to the benefits of a negotiated CBA. KUPPET requires a remission of 1.45 percent from the basic salaries of non-members.
KUPPET reported that there are 3,000 non-member teaching personnel across Kenya’s secondary schools and higher learning institutions. They are liable to remit agency fees to the union.
Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) was the newest union to join the duo. It is composed of 4,000 members, most of whom are decamped from both KNUT and KUPPET. The union has also called for payment of agency fees from 7,000 non-registered members. 1.45 percent of basic salaries are deductible for this purpose.
The Labour Relations Act of 2007 states that employees who are not members of a trade union but nonetheless enjoy perks of its collective bargaining agreement are subject to payment of an agency fee. The amount is deductible from their basic salaries.
Of the 190,000 non-member teachers, 172,000 deliberately exited KNUT when its relationship with TSC went sour. Nonetheless, the Secretary-General, Collins Oyuu has repeatedly urged the renegade teachers to return in order to put up a better-unified front to increase bargaining power.
"Agency fee is a requirement of the Labour Act,2007 and because we are in the process of mending our relationship with the TSC, teachers should rejoin KNUT or any other union if the don't want to pay the fee," declared Oyuu.
