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Teachers threaten strike over stalled pay rise talks
Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers National Chairman Omboko Milemba at a past event.
Teachers have demanded that their employer, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), urgently initiates negotiations to review the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) before the budget is read in June.
The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has issued a seven-day ultimatum to TSC to invite unions for negotiations, saying the cycle of the current CBA is ending in June.
Led by their national chairman Omboko Milemba and deputy Secretary-General Moses Nthurima, Kuppet has threatened to convene a meeting of the union’s decision-making organs to endorse a strike if the government fails to call for negotiations.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers Deputy Secretary-General Moses Nthurima addressing journalists at their headquarters in Nairobi on June 12, 2024.
Mr Milemba, who is also the Emuhaya MP, said teachers need a new CBA which should be incorporated in the new budget.
“Last year Kuppet submitted our demands to TSC, and six months later the employer is yet to call unions for a meeting to deliberate on the critical matter to start negotiations on salary increments for the teachers. The negotiations ought to have taken place before the reading of the budget,” said Mr Milemba.
Seven days
He said they only have seven days to discuss teachers’ salaries.
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi had indicated that the budget will be read on June 12.
“TSC promised to invite the unions for a sitting for negotiations for the 2025/2029 CBA. This is because the cycle for the CBA we signed last year is ending in June. This means that if we do not sit and negotiate for salaries and allowances for our teachers, they will have lost,” said Mr Nthurima.
Speaking during their leadership training in Mtwapa, Kilifi County, where they have been meeting for the last two days, the union expressed concern over the delays in CBA negotiations, warning that teachers might lose big.
“The government has already completed making the budget and for this reason, it might be read without teachers’ money. Our concern is that TSC is dragging because this was the month they were supposed to call us for a meeting, but the month is ending,” said Mr Nthurima.
Kuppet officials said the union had already submitted a memorandum of demands on what they want in the new CBA.
He urged the commission to convene an urgent meeting to start negotiations.
Mr Nthurima said TSC had also pledged to conduct job evaluation.
“We will call the organs of the union that make decisions, including the decisions that I do not want to mention… we shall call them, once they make that decision, it will be terrible for the education sector in Kenya. TSC should move with speed and call us for negotiations and job evaluation,” said Mr Nthurima.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) deputy national chairman, Dr Malel Langat, said they expected to sign the new CBA before the exit of TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia.
Outgoing Teachers Service Commission Chief Executive Officer Dr Nancy Macharia.
The union wants a 60 percent salary increment, and a 30 percent increase in allowances including housing, commuter, hardship, disability, and per diem.
“We also want the phasing out of B5 and C1 because they are archaic, we are now training for diploma and degrees. Anyone who is still in B5 and practising should be automatically promoted to C2. We want all the administrative heads including Heads of Institutions, should start at D5,” said Mr Dan Aloo, Knut official.
Knut further wants TSC to take over the role of hiring Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers. ECDE is currently a devolved function, with counties mandated to hire the staff.
In the new CBA, Knut is proposing a 10 percent increment of risk allowance for science teachers due to their work in the laboratory.
Increase leave days
The union also wants the leave days to be increased from 120 calendar days to working days and paternity leave days converted from 21 calendar days to working days.
Mr Langat says TSC should give teachers 90 leave days to engage in politics.
Other proposals include promotion based on higher qualifications, an improved medical scheme, hiring of more teachers to bridge the shortage, and increased capitation to cushion inflation, among other issues.
The teachers want their medical scheme, which is still facing challenges such as limited in-patient cover, death gratuity–group life and last expense, centralisation of medical providers, cancer therapy, excess billing and detention of patients, delayed pre authorisation, delayed discharge, and slow response times, to be improved.
Last month, while bidding farewell to principals during the Kenya National Schools Principals’ Forum in Mombasa, Dr Macharia acknowledged her success at the TSC, saying she had institutionalised the process of collective bargaining in the teaching service and recognised it as the cornerstone of industrial relations.
“You remember when I took over you all went on strike, I will never forget that day. I was given a letter by the then chairman Dr Lydia Nzomo, and then the following day you poured into the streets chanting ‘Pesa Papa’. But we have institutionalised this matter,” said Dr Macharia.
She said that during her tenure, she successfully signed and implemented two 4-year cycle CBAs—the 2017–2021 CBA at a cost of Sh54 billion and the 2021–2025 CBA at a cost of Sh18 billion.
“All of us here today have enjoyed the results of these CBAs. But as it comes to an end, it is exiting with me by the way. It is ending in June, we have instituted the process of the new CBA which will start in July for the new cycle,” said Dr Macharia.