It has now emerged that the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and their institutions is yet to be signed four years after it was drafted.
According to UASU National Organizing Secretary Onesmus Mutio, who is the union Multimedia University Chapter Secretary, they will not call off the strike which started this week on Wednesday September 18, 2024 until their demands are fully addressed.
Speaking to Education News, Mutio revealed that they presented the 2021-2025 CBA to the employer in 2020 and the talks which were ordered by the court have never borne any fruit, leaving them with no other option but to withdraw their labour.
“The key issue is failure by our employer to negotiate the 2021-2025 CBA. We have been having negotiations since last year, but now the employer has been taking us round and round, and the talks which were ordered by the court be under a conciliator have collapsed. Under the law, when negotiations collapse, you are allowed to call a strike and come Wednesday, there will be total shut down of all public universities,” said Mutio.
Mutio revealed further that even the latest increment of 7 to 10 per cent, which was given to all other public workers, has never reached them.
“You remember that just the other time, all public workers were given a salary increase of between 7 to 10 per cent. For us in the university sector we did not get that; even that one they are not willing to give us,” he said.
More than just salary
Apart from reviewing their salaries, Mutio said they want their house allowances to be reviewed and be given a car loan and mortgage as per the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) circular. They are also demanding for harmonization of allowances across all public universities in the country.
“SRC released a circular that all public workers were to enjoy a car loan and mortgage. The other thing is allowances. In universities, we are paid different allowances. For instance the commuter allowance; in Nairobi where we have 5 universities, every one of them pays differently. We want those allowances harmonized across all the 35 public universities,” said Mutio.
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The union is also pushing for one medical scheme for all public university lecturers just like teachers’ cover is managed centrally by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), revealing that currently most universities don’t even have any medical cover for their academic staff.
On retirement age, the union wants it be uniform across all universities.
“In some universities, lecturers retire at the age of 70, in others 74 or even 79, yet these are the same workers doing the same work. We want a harmonized agreed age of retirement because in the public sector, if you are a teacher for instance, you know your retirement age is 60 years. Can we have an agreed retirement age for all lecturers,” said Mutio.
Inside the CBA
In the UASU 2021-2025 CBA dated October 28, 2019 and which was presented to Inter-Public Universities’ Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) to pave way for negotiations, the varsity dons were to receive an increased salary in four main phases covering the period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2025.
The agreement is supposed to apply to Graduate/Research Assistant, Assistant Lecturer/Tutorial Fellow/Junior Research Fellow, Lecturer/Research Fellow, Senior Lecturer/Senior Research Fellow, Associate Professor and Professor.
If the proposed CBA will be agreed and implemented in full, the highest paid Graduate Assistant/Research Assistant at C3 will earn Ksh129,696 per month from the current Ksh82,552; while the lowest paid graduate at C3 will earn Ksh99,650 per month from the current pay of Ksh57,729.
(See full details in the table below)
House allowances
On the side of the housing allowance, Professors will also have a big win with the highest allowance of Ksh116,028 per month from the current Ksh73,715. They will be followed by the Associate Professors at Ksh104,426 from the current Ksh66,344, Senior Lecturer/Senior Research Fellow at Ksh92,822 from Ksh58,972, Assistant Lecturer/Tutorial Fellow/Junior Research Fellow Ksh81,220 from Ksh51,601, and Graduate Assistant/Research Assistant rising to Ksh55,692 up from Ksh35,383.
The proposed CBA also allows members of the union to retire at the age of seventy-five years, with a voluntary retirement age of 50 and above. All the teaching staff in public universities and their constituent colleges will get a car loan.
“Car loans shall be availed to all teaching members of staff in the Public Universities in Kenya and their Constituent Colleges at one per cent (1%) rate of interest per annum”, reads the proposed CBA in part.
On the side of the union staff members’ medication, the CBA states that the employer shall establish and operate a comprehensive non-contributory in-patient and out-patient medical scheme to cover the employee, spouse and up to five (5) dependent children under the age of 25 years, plus other benefits.
Other allowances are Ksh60,000 Book Allowance for Professors and Associate Professors plus Ksh20,000 Professorial Allowance, which will be Ksh45,000 and Ksh10,000 respectively for Associate Professor.
By Roy Hezron
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