The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has started talks with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in a bid to reevaluate the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Union Deputy Secretary General Hesbon Otieno said the talks are aimed at including a monetary component in the CBA after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) recently gave a nod for salary increment following a freeze two years ago.
Speaking at a private function in Kitale over the weekend, Otieno said negotiations are in top gear with the union presenting their proposal.
“CBA 2021-2025 was non-monetary with the promise of monetizing it with improvement of economy. Now that the SRC has lifted the ban on salary increments, we are engaging the Commission to include a monetary component in the agreement,” he said.
He said teachers’ promotion was key on the negotiation table lamenting that many teachers have stagnated in one job group for long following the implementation of Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) in 2017.
Otieno noted that the policy had discrepancies in remuneration of school administrators with class and senior teachers getting a raw deal.
He questioned why senior teachers’ salaries were not commensurate with other school administrators.
Keen to solve the impasse, the unionist said KNUT has proposed an increase in common cadre grades to enable tutors climb up the promotion scale. In the proposal he said job groups B5 to C3 be a common cadre enabling teachers to move after three years; making administrative grades competitive.
“We are keen on seeing teachers scale up the promotion ladder. We have proposed to make grades B5 to C3 be common cadre so to enable teachers move to automatic after three years,” he remarked.
By Philemon Kiprop
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