Thousands of primary and secondary school teachers will be smiling all the way to the bank starting next week as their salaries hit their accounts.

Besides the fat salaries, the teachers’ August payslips will also reflect improved house, commuter, hardship and leave allowances.

It is part of the government’s give-in to the demands by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET) that had threatened to mobiles their members into a nationwide strike starting next Monday in a bid to push for the implementation of Phase two of the 2021/2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

The salary increment of up to 9.5 percent, that is to commence immediately and backdated to last month, will however be spread over two years, according to the KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu.

“Basically we have agreed on almost all the contentious issues, save for one or two things. But we are happy to note that TSC has agreed to reflect part of the monies agreed upon in our CBD in the teachers August pay slips,” Oyuu told the People Daily over a telephone interview.

In what amounts to a major win for the teachers, Oyuu also disclosed that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has yielded to their demands for efficient management of their medical scheme and as such, all teachers will be allowed to receive comprehensive medical care in both private and public hospitals.

TSC has also agreed to immediately remit the delayed teachers’ third party and statutory deductions to the owed entities.

Under the new arrangement, the lowest paid teacher at job group B5 will start off with Sh22,793 rising to a maximum of Sh29,787 while that in job group C1 earning Sh28,491 will move to Sh37,234.

Those in job group C2 earning Sh36,621 will move to Sh47,858 while those in job group C3 going home with Sh44,412 will get Sh59.084.

The highest perks of C4 and C5 that currently earn Sh52,308 and Sh62,272 respectively will henceforth earn Sh68,857 and Sh79,651 respectively.

But despite the TSC’s move to give in to the teachers’ demands, the two union were last evening still adopting a wait-and-see approach over whether to call off the planned strike or not, with KUPPET Secretary General Akello Misori insisting that they would only do so once the “government implements her promise.”

Tangible action

“We are still cautious because this is a government that rarely keeps her word. We are waiting for concrete and tangible action. We cannot rely on mere promises to call off the strike,” Misori told the People Daily by telephone.

The KUPPET boss said TSC must put all her promises into writing as the union had already registered their dispute with both the Ministry of Labour and the Environment and Labour Court.

“Seeing is believing and we shall only call off the strike after seeing actions. Should this not happen, the strike is still on,” Misori averred. On his part, Oyuu said the decision to call off the strike would depend on the outcome of today’s KNUT’s National Executive Council meeting.

“We have convened a NEC meeting to decide on whether to call off the strike or not. But so far we are happy with TSC’s promise to honour  the CBA,” said Oyuu.

Oyuu disclosed that the unions are yet to agree on when employment of the 46,000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern on permanent and pensionable terms.

Also yet to be settled is the promotion of 130,000 teachers, some of whom have sat for interviews at least four times without any fruit. The teacher unions had issued a strike notice and directed teachers to stay away from classrooms from Monday, August 16, 2024.

Among their demands are the full implementation of the 2021–25 CBA, the promotion of 130,000 stagnated teachers, the allocation of Sh15 billion for teachers’ medical cover, and the release of teachers’ emoluments for July 2024.

They also want the teachers’ employer to remit all loans and NSSF deductions to the statutory bodies, saying the commission has, since June 2024, deducted the monies but failed to remit them to third-party agents including banks.

On Wednesday, after a meeting with the teachers’ unions, TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia had issued a statement indicating that the unions had endorsed its proposal to end the strike.

“Effectively, the unions have noted the TSC position and agreed to consult their internal organs with a view to withdrawing the strike notice. We, therefore, wish to thank the unions for engaging the Commission to ensure non-disruption of learning in schools during the Third Term, 2024,” Macharia had said.