By Erick Nyayiera
A union that seeks to champion the welfare of lecturers in technical and vocational training institutions has been formed.
Besides, Kenya Union of Technical and Vocational Education Trainers (KUTVET) will recruit tutors from teacher training colleges.
The Secretary General Kepher Oguwi said they will articulate the lecturers’ welfare in a more organised manner and through consultation as opposed to confrontation.
“We want to articulate issues that affect these lecturers in a better manner and through facts,” he said adding that he is prepared to take KNUT and KUPPET heads on.
This comes hot on the heels of the planned transfer of the lecturers’ payroll from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to the Public Service Commission.
Oguwi lamented that the two unions have given TVET lecturers a raw deal hence the decision to form a new union targeting these members.
“The two unions do not understand the unique challenges technical teachers undergo, hence not better placed to champion their welfare,” he said.
Oguwi stated that a lot of their potential members have demonstrated willingness to join, saying they have always played as cheer boys and backbenchers in their former unions without being recognized when opportunities arise.
“Teachers in these institutions form a resourceful human resource base and we now have a platform to engage the Government including all the relevant stakeholders on pressing issues that have bedeviled us for a long time since we lacked a union to champion our rights.”
In the on-going recruitment drive, KUTVET targets to enroll more than 20,000 members in technical colleges, Teacher Training colleges and in vocational training institutes.
He said that the union will establish regional offices in the country. These are Nyanza, Western, Coast, Nairobi, North Rift, Eastern, and Central Rift.
The union will have seven representatives with Oguwi saying that they are set to kick off the recruitment exercise from September, 2018.
However, KUPPET National Vice Chairman Moses Nthurima indicated that the new union will find it difficult to recruit new members.
“Some of the members they would be targeting to recruit and who do not belong to any union already pay agency fees and they would see no sense of joining the new union,” he said.
Besides, joining a new union to start negotiations afresh to improve their terms of service where KUPPET has covered some ground through the negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreement signed with TSC would also pose a challenge.
