Noah Cheploen @cheploennoah

Negotiations for new terms of service for teachers were headed for a deadlock yesterday after union leaders rejected an offer tabled by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

Speaking after a meeting called by TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, newly-elected Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Collins Oyuu said the offer tabled by the teachers’ employer did not meet their expectations.

The meeting, which was called to discuss a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for all cadre of teachers, was attended by Oyuu, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) chairman Omboko Milemba, and Secretary General Akelo Misori, among other top officials.

Financial offer

Speaking after the day-long deliberations, the union officials rejected TSC’s offer on grounds that it revolved around maternity and paternity issues, as opposed to a “financial offer”.

“How many of us will go for maternity and paternity leave? And how will this put food on the table?” Oyuu posed.

“I think I am still very fresh and I need my teachers to continue celebrating,” Oyuu said.

Yesterday’s talks came barely two days after Oyuu assumed office following the resignation of his predecessor, Wilson Sossion on Friday.

“We are saying we must improve industrial relations and even as we rejected the offer, nobody banged the table, we just laughed as we rejected it,” said Oyuu, signalling a departure from Sossion’s apparent confrontational style.

But addressing the press separately, Macharia, the TSC boss, maintained that they had a “very productive” meeting.

She assured that TSC was committed to providing an outstanding professional working environment for all teachers in the country.

She added that TSC had worked to ensure that teachers earn salaries that are comparable to those of their peers in the region and the public service.

The 2017-2021 CBA comes to an end tomorrow, hence the move by TSC to initiate negotiations over a new guideline.

Macharia said that TSC had embraced dialogue as the best way to solve issues facing teachers, perhaps alluding to her frosty relations with the previous Knut administration.

The teachers employer had written to Knut, Kuppet and the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (Kusnet), indicating that the meeting would discuss, among other issues, the commission’s offer to teachers for the 2021-2025 period.

“The commission proposes the agenda to preliminaries, declaration of interest, tabling of commission’s offer and negotiation of the 2021-2025 CBA,” said Macharia.

The meeting to discuss the CBA comes against a warning by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) that there would be no pay rise for public servants and teachers for the next two years due to the ballooning wage bill.

For about three years, the giant teachers union had been locked in a bitter standoff with TSC over a number of issues.

The standoff saw hundreds of Knut members removed from the official register, in what was perceived as TSC’s scheme to cripple its operations.

Knut has also not been receiving its union dues, a situation which has financially affected operations in its 110 branches across the country.

The dispute has also seen the Knut membership shrink from a high of 187,000 to about 23,000, and its monthly income dwindling from Sh144 million to Sh15 million a month against a salary portfolio of Sh80 million monthly for over 600 workers spread across the country.

Sossion had accused TSC of running two payrolls, with one meant to punish teachers affiliated to Knut.

In February, Sossion complained that despite several correspondences dating back to 2019 urging TSC to formally start and conclude salary negotiations with Knut, the commission had ignored the requests in a bid to render Knut irrelevant.

Knut had stated that it was aware that TSC had forwarded a salary proposal to SRC without formally engaging the union.

A correspondence with TSC in January shows Knut maintained that the 16-32 per cent salary proposal forwarded to SRC was irregular, not borne out of consultations or proper negotiations and not supported by any data from the Central Planning and Monitoring Unit in the Ministry of Labour.

Knut also said the percentage was not based on a credible job evaluation.

“In our correspondence, we maintained that a proper job evaluation particularly of classroom teachers must be done,” said Sossion in the letter dated January 27, 2021.

The union also sought a 50 per cent of the basic salary but TSC proposed that it should be retained at current rates but comprehensive review be undertaken.