The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has slammed Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU-K) boss Francis Atwoli who recently defended the proposed 3% housing levy asking union leaders and the President to meet and have a dialogue on the issue.
Speaking during the KNUT Taita Taveta branch’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 13, 2023 the union Deputy Secretary General (DSG) Hesbon Otieno urged Atwoli to keep off teachers’ welfare as he does not understand their challenges.
Otieno noted that if the government has to deduct the housing levy, there should be public participation sessions first before touching their salaries.
According to him, most teachers have already built houses adding that if the government gives them the salary increment they are asking for, those willing will contribute the levy.
“If they give us the 60 per cent salary increment we are requesting for, from there, willingly, a teacher who has a housing plan, will go, talk to the government, come up with a plan on how to join and remit the 3 per cent,” he said.
Otieno further noted that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has outlived its usefulness and that it has become a stumbling block when teachers want to negotiate their salaries with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
He said that there was a need to revisit the Constitution so that the teachers’ union can directly negotiate with TSC on matters concerning teachers.
“We have to revisit our constitution because SRC has outlived its usefulness. We can negotiate directly our interests between us and the employer. We don’t need somebody to regulate our negotiations,” said the DSG.
The KNUT deputy boss told its youth members to air their grievances concerning leadership through the laid down procedures instead of resorting to using social media.
He called for discipline and respect towards the union leadership to maintain the union’s dignity failure to which disciplinary action will be taken to protect the union.
Otieno urged members who desire to lead the union in various capacities to wait for the right time rather than spread propaganda using social media to tarnish the image of the union and its leaders.
By Michael Oduor
Get more stories from our website: Education News
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
