Kenya Visually Impaired Teachers’ Association (KEVIT) this week clashed with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC)’s CEO Dr Nancy Macharia over 1.5 per cent automatic deduction from their salaries for the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) as agency fees.
The association representatives argued that they never registered as members of KUSNET and that the union does not represent their interests.
During a sitting of the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare chaired by Senator Julius Murgor, KEVIT Chair Mbugua Kamau recounted his involuntary transfer from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) to KUSNET in February 2022.
He criticized the T-Pay online platform used by teachers to manage third-party deductions for its lack of an option to exit KUSNET.
However, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia, who was present at the meeting, refuted KEVIT ‘s claims, insisting that the T-Pay system grants teachers full control over their union-related deductions and allows them to approve or halt any deductions as they see fit.
“The T-Pay system allows teachers to manage individual transactions by approving any third-party deductions they wish to be applied to their pay slips,” Macharia explained, pointing out that a teacher who desires to exit a union needs only to log into the T-Pay system and stop the deduction.
Macharia said TSC deducts union dues from registered KUSNET members and agency fees from teachers benefitting from the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiated by KUSNET as per an order from the Minister of Labour and the Labour Relations Act.
The Senators urged TSC to allow the freedom of employees to choose their union representation, calling for respect of this freedom and to better sensitize teachers on union and agency fees.
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