Oyuu: Why we want 60% payrise for teachers

By Roy Hezron

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has come out to defend their proposed 60 per cent salary increment for teachers in their ongoing quest for review of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Speaking to the media on Monday, October 17, 2022 at the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) in Nairobi during an induction meeting of the union’s 110 branch Executive Secretaries, the Secretary General Collins Henry Oyuu stated that despite signing the CBA which had no monetary component; it did not stop them from pushing towards further negotiations since it had a review clause.

Oyuu confirmed that they had already presented their case to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for commencement of the review and presentation of a counter offer to the union.

“As we stand here as KNUT, we have already presented proposals based on the 60 per cent pay rise for our teachers. I don’t know what shall be accepted, but that is what we have placed over for implementation. If TSC gets to go through our proposal, let them also bring their counter proposal; and that is how negotiations work,” said Oyuu.

He added: “We cannot just sit back and say let us wait. We have presented a proposal and we wait for TSC to come out candidly and give a counter proposal.”

Oyuu observed that the last time teachers’ pay was reviewed was in the 2016-2017 financial year, and by implication from July 1, 2016 to date, which is equivalent to 6 years; of which they have also not been compensated for the rise in cost of living.

According to KNUT, going by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) statistics the annual inflation rate as at end of September, 2022 stood at 9.2 per cent and was projected to stand at 10 per cent by the end of October, 2022; and since teachers had not received pay  to compensate them for the 6 years; it was only fair to extrapolate the annual rate of inflation over 6 years, which is 60 per cent.

If the proposal will be accepted, the highest paid teacher at Grade D5 will take home Ksh. 252,249.6 per month from the current Ksh. 157,656; while the lowest at Grade B5 will pocket Ksh. 43,512 from the current Ksh. 27, 195.