Teachers pay rise deal talks to resume in two weeks
Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General William Sossion (left) and chairman Mudzo Nzili at a past press conference. Talks between teachers’ unions and the TSC over the implementation of the CBA will resume after two weeks. FILE PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE |
What you need to know:
- Kuppet secretary-general Akelo Misori said that they expected TSC to come up with a clear framework of implementing the CBA within two weeks.
- Knut and Kuppet rejected a proposal by the teachers employer to have the Sh54 billion deal implemented annually as salary increase.
- The unions threatened to block secondary and primary school heads association officials and other education stakeholders from attending the meeting
Talks between teachers’ unions and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) over the implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) will now resume after two weeks.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) secretary-general Akelo Misori told the Nation that they expected TSC to come up with a clear framework of implementing the CBA within two weeks.
“The talks have not really collapsed, we are giving them time to come up with a comprehensive schedule when we resume talks in two weeks,” Mr Misori said.
REJECTED PROPOSAL
On Friday, representatives of the teachers’ unions and TSC officials failed to agree on the implementation of the agreement signed last year and instead rescheduled the meeting.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kuppet rejected a proposal by the teachers employer to have the Sh54 billion deal implemented annually as salary increase.
The unions also made good their threat to block secondary and primary school heads association officials and other education stakeholders from attending the meeting.
Sources at the meeting revealed that after long arguments, the commission asked for time to consult before inviting the teachers for another meeting.
If implemented annually, it will cost Sh13.7 billion.
PAYMENT SCHEDULE
Teachers had also demanded that they be given the payment schedule in advance but TSC declined.
Kuppet officials in the meeting were led by chairman Omboko Milemba while Knut was led by Deputy secretary-general Hesborne Otieno.
However, the officials together with TSC declined to discuss the content of the meeting, saying they had agreed to keep the discussions out of the media.
“Please let us not discuss this issue,” said Mr Otieno when reached for comment.
The one-day meeting had been organised by the commission to sensitise teachers’ union leaders on the 2017-2021 CBA.
The report was compiled by the top leadership of the commission in the month of March in Naivasha.
PROGRESSION PATHS
The CBA has created distinct career paths for all teachers and aims to ensure that both the teachers in administrative and non-administrative positions have clear career progression paths.
“In determining remuneration of teachers, the main guiding principle was the relative worth of the job. The worth of every job has been determined based on the category and size of school, level of responsibility, decision-making and the impact of decisions made at every level,” said TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia last year during the signing of the CBA.
The CBA established a new grading and salary structure based on the principle of equal pay for equal work with all primary and post-primary teachers in non-administrative positions moving from Grade B5 (former Job H) to D1 (formerly Job Group P).
Primary school administrators are also supposed to be appointed procedurally and the CBA also addressees other non-monetary but crucial benefits to teachers in areas of leave and professional development.
