By Roy Hezron
A bout 5,900 teachers in special needs schools who are non-members of the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) will from February this year be deducted a 1.45 per cent agency fee per month from their basic salary.
This came after the Labour Relation Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui gazetted the fee through a Legal Notice No. 10 of 2022 dated January 5, 2022 instructing Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to start the deductions of the agency fees within 30 days after the union served them with the orders.
“The Teachers Service Commission shall deduct a sum equal to 1.45 per cent of the basic salary of an employee per month of each employee who is not a member of the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers or any other trade union but is covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement registered by the Employment and Labour Relation Court as RCA No. 87 of 2021 on August 27, 2021,” reads the gazette notice.
The union has already notified the TSC in a letter addressed to the Commission’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Nancy Macharia dated January 21, 2022 by the union Secretary General James Torome.
This was triggered after the union in June last year signed a first Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) covering 2021-2025 periods which had no salary increment, though Torome told Education News that they mutually agreed with the employer to review the CBA so that it feature in the salary increments within a year, which they have already started pushing for it.
The union was pushing for a salary increment of between 50 per cent and 60 per cent on their basic salary and enhanced allowances where if their proposal will be accepted by the TSC, the lowest teacher at Grade B5 will have their basic salaries moving from the current Sh 21, 756 to Sh 34, 810 on the minimum, and from the current Sh 27, 195 to Sh 43, 512 on the maximum.
The highest teacher at Grade D5 could see their salaries moving from the current Sh 131, 380 to Sh 197, 070 on the minimum, and from the current Sh 157, 656 to Sh 236, 484 on the maximum.
The union was fully recognized early last year by the TSC as a body representing interests of special needs education teachers in the employment of the Commission and who are paid up members of the Union.
In 2011 Mr. Torome registered the union through the Labor Board with him as the first member as it took time to gather more members.
The union was formed to agitate for all Special Needs Education (SNE) matters, such as; advocacy for better employment terms and conditions for SNE teachers, reaching out to SNE learner’s parents as key stakeholders in the endeavor of promoting SNE in Kenya and responding to challenges in SNE.
