The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has affirmed that they would give directions on the teachers’ demands on the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) deal in the next two weeks.
SRC Chairperson Lyn Mengich also confirmed that the commission was looking into the submissions made by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) regarding the teachers’ proposals on their salaries.
“Please note that the commission is looking into the submission, the outcome will be communicated. We will give directives in the next two weeks,” Mengich told Nation.
Further, a source at TSC revealed that the directives from SRC are key to guiding them on matters regarding the teachers’ salaries.
“The directives from the SRC are the ones to guide the TSC, without that communication the teachers’ employer is actually helpless,” the source stated.
Teachers unions comprising of Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET), Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya National Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) have been decrying the delay of the negotiation process of the CBA deal.
The grievances led to KUPPET Secretary General Akelo Misori issuing a seven-day strike notice to the TSC on Thursday, June 3 citing that teachers would down their tools if they did not receive salary increments or promotions.
“Teachers expect nothing other than a salary review this year. We have gathered that TSC was advised by the SRC, but TSC has not shared the advisory with us,” Misori stated.
Among the demands Misori fronted to the TSC includes a 70 percent pay rise for teachers.
TSC has been at loggerheads with KNUT and KUPPET over several key issues regarding the welfares of the teachers.
KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion has been at the forefront faulting the commission for crippling the union and not dealing with the teachers’ grievances.
“TSC should not put us in the collision course with the government, and disrupt the industrial peace in the teaching service by engaging in mischievous and illegal ways of conceiving, negotiating and implementing the CBA,” he stated during a past interview.
