KUPPET strike threat over pay row to disrupt KCSE and KCPE exams
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has urged Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) to drop teachers’ strike threat to allow smooth Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya
Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.This is after the union threatened to lower their tools following their employer’s breach of their collective bargaining agreement (CBA), a move
that risks jeopardizing national exams due in March.
The union published a strike notice yesterday after its demand for new
salary negotiations failed.
At a press briefing at the union’s head office in Nairobi, Kuppet Secretary General Akello Missori said teachers would press for nothing short of a salary increment this year.
“Upon the expiry of the 21 days, the union said it would review the commission’s response before convening its organs to give further directions on the next course of action,” Misori stated.
He added, “all the commission has done is to acknowledge our letter and promise to respond at a later stage after ‘interrogating’ the contents.”
He added that failure by TSC to engage them has forced them to call for mass action.
In the CBA, the union had proposed a 30 per cent to 70 per cent raise to all teachers in the country.
“In the absence of a clear-cut commitment to re-open the talks, we have no idea how long the interrogation might take and our members do not have the patience to wait any longer for a salary review,” he remarked.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) signed a non-monetary CBA with TSC, a move that sparked uproar from teachers.
The union led by Secretary-General Collins Oyuu initiated talks to resolve the standoff. KUPPET in their proposal demanded commuter allowance of teachers raised to Sh8,000 from Sh5,000 and salary for the lowest paid teacher to be raised from Sh16,000 to Sh20,8000.
But the CBA has not been honored after talks with TSC failed to kick
off. KCPE exams are set to begin from March 7 to 10 paving way for KCSE which
is scheduled to start from March 11.
