The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has begun a structured negotiation with the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) to raise teachers’ salaries by 60 per cent.
KNUT Secretary-General, Henry Collins Oyuu highlighted the Union’s demands for an irreducible minimum of the of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) proposals to their employer.
“Teachers want money and not stories! This time around we put it squarely and barely that teachers have an irreducible minimum demand that the 2021-2025 CBA be reviewed to earn teachers’ money,” he said.
The Union had earlier convened a conference to notify teachers of information from the retreat in Naivasha for three days 7-9 July with TSC the meeting was to understand teachers’ challenges.
“The issues include promotion of teachers upon attainment of higher qualifications, delocalisation of teachers, transfers of teachers, teacher performance appraisal, teacher professional development, and policy development by the commission,” Oyuu said.
He further said the Union in its intervention canvassed to have the National Assembly appropriate 4.5 billion for the purpose of purchasing modules in this particular training with money was availed.
“We realize however that there is still more that there is still more than the employer and Knut with stakeholders can do to secure a budgetary allocation particularly to fund training for all the teachers so that they are cushioned from paying the required Sh6,000,” Oyuu stated.
The CBA enhanced maternity leave for female teachers from 90 to 120 days. In addition, the CBA allows male instructors to take paternity leave and promote teachers in arid and semi-arid areas. Other instructors will face pay freezes for the next five years, from 2021 to 2025.
Oyuu claimed that in the year since his team took command, they had recruited 100,000 new members, bringing membership to 115,000, up from 15,000 when he was elected on June 26th last year.
The figure was lower than the 187,000 Knut had a few years earlier. “When I arrived as secretary general, Knut was experiencing numerous issues, including low membership, financial desperation, and a bad blood that had developed.”