- UASU has issued a seven-day strike notice, threatening a nationwide university shutdown from September 30 over the unresolved 2025-2029 CBA.
- The union has accused MoE, National Treasury and university councils of failing to honour commitments made in the November 2025 Return-to-Work Formula.
- SRC has indicated it cannot issue constitutional advice for financial counter-proposals until the government commits in writing to funding university CBAs through the National Exchequer.
Kenya’s public universities are facing a nationwide shutdown from September 30 after lecturers gave the government seven days to break the deadlock over their 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) issued the seven-day strike notice on Thursday, September 24, saying lecturers would down their tools from midnight on September 30 over what the union described as prolonged failure to conclude and finance the agreement.
The move puts teaching, examinations, research and student supervision across public universities at risk of disruption unless the parties resolve the outstanding issues before the deadline.
UASU Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga said the union’s decision followed what it described as the failure of university councils, the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury to honour commitments contained in a Return-to-Work Formula signed on November 5, 2025.
The CBA Deadlock
At the centre of the dispute is the government’s financial position on the 2025–2029 CBA. UASU says negotiations have continued since last year, but the government has yet to submit a financial counter-proposal.
The dispute took a new turn after university-sector unions met the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) on September 21. According to UASU, SRC informed the unions that neither the Ministry of Education nor the National Treasury had provided a written commitment that funding for public universities’ CBAs would be provided through the National Exchequer. UASU said SRC consequently indicated that it could not issue the constitutional advice required to facilitate financial counter-proposals to the unions.
The union has questioned how negotiations can progress without clarity on the government’s financial position, particularly after months of discussions at Machakos University. UASU also said other public-sector employees had concluded their 2025–2029 CBAs while the agreement covering university lecturers remained unresolved.
ALSO READ: University of Kabianga to offer elementary Chinese course from October
September 30 Countdown
The latest strike notice follows an earlier warning issued by UASU on August 14, when the union said lecturers could resort to industrial action if the government failed to implement the 2025 agreement. The union said the CBA was expected to be signed in November 2025 but remained pending.
The seven-day notice now puts the government, university councils and UASU under pressure to resolve the outstanding financial and procedural questions before September 30.
By Hillary Muhalya
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
