The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) are both pushing for an increase in the basic salary and enhanced allowances for teachers in the next cycle of the 2025-2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) already presented before the employer, Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
In its memorandum of demands presented to the commission, KNUT wants the basic salary for teachers to be increased by 60 per cent with the union’s Secretary General, Collins Oyuu, arguing that previous CBAs have failed to address teachers’ economic needs and have left them to struggle with the rising cost of living.
Oyuu added that the current CBA, which will expire on June 30, 2025, has done little to shield teachers from ongoing economic pressures that are coupled with increased prices in basic commodities, high taxation, and numerous deductions witnessed in teachers’ pay slips.
At the same time, the union is also pushing for a 30 per cent increase in all other components of allowances for teachers, as revealed by the union’s First Vice-National Chairman Malel Lang’at while addressing members during the KNUT Kilindini branch AGM recently.
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This includes compensation for working on public holidays, an extension of sick leave to 12 months with full or partial pay, increased maternity and paternity leave durations to 120 and 21 working days, respectively, instead of current calendar days, and annual leave allowances equivalent to a month’s salary to be paid before teachers proceed on leave.
Other proposals include a 10 percent risk allowance for teachers handling Science and technical subjects and a renewable sabbatical leave of up to three years with full pay to allow teachers to pursue their interests, traveling, writing, research, and teaching in a university.
In a different scope, KNUT is also pushing for 90 working days of political leave without pay for teachers vying for elective posts in the proposed CBA to allow a teacher who is interested in vying for an elective position to participate in campaign and voter mobilization.
And in the case that teacher is elected, KNUT wants those who will be below 50 years to be granted unpaid leave for the period of their political service, subject to attaining the retirement age, while those who will be above 50 years be allowed to apply for normal early retirement.
100 per cent pay rise for KUPPET
KUPPET, on its part, is pushing for a 50 to 100 per cent basic salary increase, where 50 per cent will be for the highest cadre while 100 per be for the teachers in the lowest cadre.
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Furthermore, the union argues that the analysis of salary increments between the 2016-2021 and 2021-2025 CBAs reveals that the increases for teachers have been minimal, particularly when considering the challenging economic conditions over the past eight years.
For instance, the highest basic salary for a teacher in Grade B5 rose from Ksh27,756 to Ksh29,787, an increase of only Ksh2,031, while for Grade D5, the highest basic salary increased from Ksh157,656 to Ksh162,539, amounting to just a Ksh4,883 increase.
“Given that teachers are facing escalating financial pressures while striving to deliver quality education, these modest salary adjustments do not adequately reflect their contributions or the economic realities of their profession. It is crucial for the employer to recognize these disparities and consider more substantial salary increases in order to support educators effectively and ensure their financial stability,” reads the document.
If the KUPPET draft proposal goes through, then it implies that effective July this year, teachers at Grade B5 who the union proposes to receive a 100 per cent basic salary increase will now earn Ksh47,660 on the minimum and Ksh59,574 on the maximum, from the current Ksh23,830 on the minimum and Ksh29,787 on the maximum.
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Those at Grade C1 who the union proposes receive a 95 per cent pay increase will see their basic pay shift to Ksh58,084.65 on the minimum and Ksh72,606.30 on the maximum from what they are earning now, which is Ksh29,787 and Ksh37,234 on the minimum and maximum, respectively.
Chief principals at Grade D5 will see their basic salaries increased by 50 per cent from what they are earning currently, which is Ksh131,380 and Ksh162,539 on the minimum and maximum, to a minimum of Ksh197,070 and a maximum of Ksh243,808.50.
The biggest winners in the KUPPET proposal, if it sails through, will be teachers at Grade C4, who the union proposes receive an 80 per cent pay rise which will change their basic salary from Ksh52,308 to Ksh94,154.40 on the minimum and from Ksh68,857 to Ksh123,942.60 on the maximum.
The union is also pushing for a 20 per cent increase in house allowances across all job grades and for commuter allowances to be increased between 200 per cent and 250 per cent across all job grades and for retention of hardship allowances at the current rates but for expansion of the areas to include Lari (Kiambu County) and Nairobi County.
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The union is also demanding the introduction of new allowances, notably a hazardous allowance for teachers in sciences at a rate of 20 per cent of the basic pay; overtime allowance for teachers in boarding schools and those involved in sports and extracurricular activities; postgraduate allowance for all teachers across the job grades, where those with master’s and PhD degrees get a 40 per cent increase in basic salary; and an extraneous/standing allowance of 10 per cent based on basic pay.
KUSNET demands
Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET), on its part, is pushing for a 50 to 60 per cent basic pay rise in its 2025-2029 CBA that they have already submitted to the employer, TSC, with an increase in allowances and, in particular, asking the employer to increase the hardship allowance.
“In the proposal which we have submitted to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), we are asking the employer to increase the hardship allowance because it has stayed for a very long time without being reviewed,” said KUSNET Secretary General James Torome.
By Hezron Roy
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