By Azael Masese
A wasted chance by the now embattled Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) to agree to a favourable deal offered by Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in March this year, has come back to haunt the union.
In the deal seen by Education News, TSC offered to allow KNUT members to be promoted under the Non Graduate Schemes of Service as opposed to the controversial Career Progression Guidelines (CPG).
The letter by TSC CEO Nancy Macharia dated 20th March, 2019 addressed to KNUT revisits the frantic efforts made to bring the two together to a negotiating table. The teachers’ employer and the union had disagreed over five items; transfer of teachers, promotion of teachers, Career Progression Guidelines, Performance Management Tools and Teacher Professional Development (TPAD).
The Commission invited KNUT to a meeting on the 14th and 15th March 2019 to try and resolve, by mutual negotiations, the issues in dispute.
“When parties met on the 14/3/2019 at the Commission Headquarters, the Commission in the spirit of give-and-take acceded to three out of five KNUT demands; and requested KNUT to accede to the remaining two out of the five,” Macharia states.
The Commission fully acceded to the KNUT demand that promotion of members of the KNUT be done as per the Schemes of Service and the Code of Regulation for Teachers and not as per CPG.
The Commission was willing to revoke the Circular No. 7 of 2018 being Ref. No. RSC/ADM/192A/VOL.1X/37 of 02/05/2018 operationalising CPG to the extent it applies to members of KNUT.
The third proposal the Commission acceded to was on the transfer of teachers, which fell into two categories.
In the first category was the non-officials of KNUT where the Commission agreed to the KNUT demand that the provisions of the Code of Regulations for Teachers be applied in undertaking transfer of teachers who are members of KNUT but are not officials of the union.
In the second category touching KNUT officials, the Commission considered them as falling into two distinct categories.
The first category was that of non-institutional administrators where the Commission agreed to restrict transfer of KNUT officials who are non institutional administrators within respective geographical areas they are elected.
In the institutional administrators, the Commission’s position was that institutional administrators were not unionisable.
TSC, under pressure of the Conciliation Committee established by the Labour Ministry and chaired by Charles Maranga requested KNUT to accede to performance management tools and teacher professional development (TPD).
On performance tools, the Commission’s position was that all teachers, including members of KNUT be subjected to the PC and TPAD in the public interest even as TSC revises the tools with the input of all stakeholders including KNUT.
On the second demand, the Commission’s position was that it had introduced TPD as a regulator and not an employer pursuant to section 35 of the TSC Act.
For this reason, KNUT had no locus on issues of TPD; the Commission is willing to educate the union on TPD.
“As you are further aware, KNUT was not agreeable to the position taken by the Commission on all the issues in dispute,” the letter states.
The Commission thus noted that even on issues where the Commission acceded to the KNUT demands, the Union nonetheless declined to the TSC concession.
“The above state of affairs presents the parties with no alternative but to present all the five issues for determination before the court,” Macharia said.
The Commission, however, stated that whereas the court process was sure to conclusively determine the issues, its position was that industrial harmony was best achieved through open dialogue where parties, in good faith, adopt give and take strategy in a bid to resolve issues between them.
On this, the Commission sought the indulgence of the KNUT leadership to engage it once again in further negotiations on all the five issues with a view to resolving the same.
“Accordingly, the Commission reiterates its commitment and willingness to engage KNUT in further negotiations meant to resolve the issues between the parties,” the letter stated.
With all these avenues not working, on 12nd July 2019, Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled in favour of KNUT.
While KNUT won, it lost everything in the process.
The Commission announced that it would recover all the enhanced salaries teachers had been paid since the implementation of the Common Bargaining Agreement from 2017.
According to the Commission, the enhanced salaries were awarded through the CPG, which was suspended.
It also said that all those teachers promoted will be demoted as since the Career Progression Guidelines will be replaced with the Schemes of Service.
Besides, the Commission did not deduct the 2 per cent union fees as provided by in law and this hampers the union’s operations such as paying rent and staff.
All eyes are on Wilson Sossion, the union Secretary General. His clout at the union is slowly reducing and would be interesting to see what next course of action he would take.
For example, when he called on teachers to boycott the CBC training conducted during the 2019 April holidays, a number of teachers ignored him and attended.
Those who boycotted and disrupted the training were interdicted.
Education CS George Magoha has refused to cede ground on the CBC, forcing the union jump on board and support the CBC.
A plan to oust Sossion, supported by union members from Central Kenya fell flat.
Without a representative from the region at the National Steering Committee, the region is divided in its support for Sossion.
Kenya Women Teachers Association (KEWOTA) is breathing hard on the KNUT face and its leadership.
The relationship with TSC is already intoxicated and with Sossion holding the two plum positions, drawing fat perks, will he leave for the sake of the union?
