KNUT has set its strike date on August 25, 2024 midnight, officially confirming that teachers will not be available in school to kick off third term.
In a press released on August 16, 2024, KNUT announced that the strike will begin on the midnight of August 25, 2024, coinciding with the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) strike that was announced earlier to start August 26, 2024.
In the statement signed by the union Secretary General Collins Henry Oyuu, the National Executive Council was categorical that no teacher will be in school come the opening of schools for third term.
“The National Executive Council sitting today August 16, 2024 having looked at the development of these grave matters of concern to the teachers and the teaching fraternity has DIRECTED the Secretary General to prepare a STRIKE NOTICE to the TSC beginning midnight August 25, 2024,” said Oyuu in the heavy-worded statement.
“All schools shall not be attended to by teachers in the entire Republic. The NEC has further directed that all Branch Executive Councils mobilize to have total WITHDRAWAL OF LABOUR in all schools in the 110 Branches until the matter is resolved and the strike action is called off by the Secretary General as provided for under the law,” he added.
In a long and detailed account of how they have tried to bring the government to the negotiating table, the statement expresses the frustrations they have faced, with Teachers Service Commission (TSC) employing what seems to be a delay tactic.
In the chronology of events, KNUT noted it wrote the first letter to the commission on August 5, 2024 regarding the implementation of the second phase of the salary awards for the reviewed 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), after realizing that the same was not factored in the July 2024 teachers’ payslips.
“The Commission responded…informing that they were to revert (get back) to the Union once internal consultations on the matter were finalized. Seven days later, there has neither been an invitation nor reasons given why the meeting has never materialized,” said Oyuu in the statement reads.
After waiting for the response in vain, the union wrote another letter to the Commission dated August 12, 2024 where it further highlighted issues to be addressed apart from implementation of the second phase of the amended CBA.
The issues included third party deductions accrued and not remitted to their respective organizations where the union asserted that teachers’ bank and Sacco loans, and Sacco savings deductions have not been remitted for the last 5 months. Others not remitted were burial benevolent fund deductions, Teachers Education Fund savings and loans, and NSSF deductions.
Other issues included conversion of 46,000 Junior Secondary School teachers to permanent and pensionable terms and employment of 20,000 new teachers, promotion of 130,000 stagnated teachers on various job grades even after they attended various interviews, and teachers medical cover.
“To date, there has been no response from the Commission on the issues raised. This demonstrates that the TSC is unresponsive, and unwilling to embrace the available dispute resolution framework even after the Union warned that failure of response would resort to Industrial Action without further reference to any other communication,” reiterated Oyuu.
The union now demands immediate implementation of the second phase of the 2021-2025 amended CBA signed between the commission and the union, immediate remittance of the third party deductions accrued to their respective organizations, and immediate conversation of 46,000 JSS intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms.
They are also demanding the promotion of 130,000 stagnated teachers in various job grades who were already shortlisted and interviewed for the new grades in 2023 but failed to get their appointments, and immediate remittance of capitation to the medical insurer to allow service providers to offer medical services to sick teachers and their families.
The notice by KNUT had been cooking all along, with all indications pointing to the grounding of learning in third term after the government looked to target their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in the budget cuts after the rejection of the Finance Bill 2024.
The strike notice is putting the government on the back footing, with also lecturers having issued their notice to strike in September due to sporadic or non-existent payment of salaries.
By Roy Hezron
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