By Malachi Motano
Knut’s Deputy Secretary General Hesbon Otieno
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has reopened the Third Party TPAY portal where teachers can visit to exit or rejoin unions and associations
This now allows teachers wishing to return to Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) to do so after the employer opened the registration portal.
The teachers who will be inspired by the new leadership at Knut may wish to return to the union, whose numbers have dropped to about 16,000 members.
However, insiders say this is a major blow to the new Knut leadership which had hoped that TSC would restore union members’ roll as it was in June 2019 when the union had some 187,471 members, giving the union some Sh144 million in union dues.
Unfortunately when it came to July and August of the same year, the union did not receive any dues as the standoff between the union and employer intensified.
Later in September, the employer only emitted Sh83.9 million from some 115,637 members, with the membership further reducing to 110,000 in October and 105,000 in November.
The teachers union again Knut did not receive any union dues in December. And when the year turned to 2020, membership had further reduced to 103,030 by end of January.
KNUT membership continued to decline and to date it only has 16,000 members, raking in about only Sh12 million.
According to Knut Deputy Secretary-General Hesbon Otieno, opening the portal is the first step to restoring the union.
“Teachers who believe in the union and the new team now have a chance to come back. This even as we still engage the employer on other ways of navigating these challenges,” he said.
