By Kese Werugha
University Academic Staff Union strike is no, Pwani University Chapter Secretary-General Chris Ngeng has said. He said the strike was legal and in line with the country’s constitution.
Ngeng said the Ministry of Education has declined negotiations as they presented their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations on May 2017 but 9 months down the line the Government has not honored them.
Accusing the Vice-Chancellors Committee of sabotaging their negotiations, he wondered why the Government had negotiated the Kenya National Union of Teachers 2017-2021 CBA and the implementation done already while theirs was being declined.
Speaking to the press at the Pwani campus, Ngeng and his colleagues stressed that they would continue downing their tools until the Government presented its proposal to the Labor Cabinet Secretary to be used in reconciliation talks.
“We vow to continue with the strike despite the Labor Relations Court directing university lecturers to call off the strike and resume work this week. The UASU,KUSU and KUDHEIHA proposals have not been captured in the budget since 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and up to 2021. The strike shall continue and we pity the students whose semester has been prolonged because of the strike since last year 2017,” Ngeng noted.
