By Roy Hezron
As teachers unions are pushing for re-negotiations of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to factor in money component, Education News has obtained various proposals under discussion, and salaries and allowances for teachers which await advisory from Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) can now be revealed.
This new development follows the move by the national assembly in October 2021 revoking a circular issued by the SRC in June last year freezing salary increment in the public service for the next two years starting July 2021.
The legislators ruled that the circular was unconstitutional as it violates workers’ rights to engage in collective bargaining with the employers in line with provisions of Article 41(5) of the Constitution.
This means workers in the civil service including teachers, through unions were free to negotiate for new pay increases which SRC had frozen, a situation that has now paved way for the teachers union notably Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) to call for renegotiations and review of the previously signed 2021-2025 CBA to include the money component.
The SRC in June last year had frozen salary increments for all civil servants for two years starting July, noting tough economic times brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu despite the fact that SRC gave an advisory over the poorly performing economy of the country based on the COVID-19 effects that dealt a blow on the entire world, the commodity prices remained at a very unfriendly level; indicating that the extra Sh. 15 billion which was allocated to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for the 2022/2023 financial year can be used to review teachers’ salaries.
“Respecting the fact that we must continue consulting as stakeholders in the sector; we must also look at the both sides of the coin… teachers must take their children to school, they must feed well, they must develop themselves in other spheres,” said Oyuu
He added: “National Treasury has also allocated an extra Sh70.8 billion to ministries for recurrent expenditure, including the annual pay rise. This must be properly isolated from the 15 billion which can easily address the monetary aspect in our 2022-2025 CBA.”
Oyuu revealed that should their proposal get accepted the lowest teacher in job group B5 will have minimum basic salary change from sh. 21,756 to sh. 28,717; while their maximum basic salary changing from sh. 27,195 to sh. 35,897.
TSC Counter Offer
In November 2020, TSC had proposed a minimum of 16 per cent increment in basic salary for teachers in their counter offer in the 2021-2025 CBA and which was already deposited at the SRC before the salary regulator issuing a circular freezing pay rise in the civil service in June 2021.
This implied that teachers in Grades C4 to D5 would have benefit from a 16 per cent increment in their basic salaries in the CBA, while those in Grade B5 to Grade C3 could see a 32 per cent pay rise in their salaries effective July 2021.
This essentially implied that Senior and Chief Principals were to earn at least Shs.131, 380 and a maximum of Shs.157, 656; while Deputy principals ranked between job Group D1 to D3 were expecting to earn between Shs.77,840 and Shs.125, 573.
TSC also recommended an increment of up to 20 per cent in house allowances, commuter and leave allowances.
Unions Proposals
KNUT, KUPPET and Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) had submitted their proposal to TSC in 2020 and it’s believed that as they are pushing for renegotiations of teachers salary increase, their initial proposals will form the basis of the negotiations.
KUPPET on its side was pushing for classroom teachers getting a salary increment of 70 per cent while administrators get 30 per cent increase.
“Teachers in C2 and C3 to have higher increment of 70 per cent while those in D4 and D5 to have 30 per cent salary increment,” reads the union proposed CBA in part.
This meant that the lowest teacher at Grade C2 was to earn a proposed salary of Sh 59,425 from the current Sh 34,955 on the minimum and a proposed Sh 74,280 from the current Sh 43,694 on the maximum; while the highest teacher at Grade D4 was to earn a proposed salary of Sh 153,715 from the current Sh 118,242 on the minimum and a proposed Sh 184,458 from the current Sh 141,891 on the maximum.
KUPPET was also pushing for teachers to get four new allowances in addition to what they enjoy currently under the 2021-2025 CBA which are risk, overtime, post-graduate and accommodation allowances.
KUSNET on the other hand was pushing for a salary increment of between 50 per cent and 60 per cent on their basic salary, as D1- D5 being their highest Grades while B5 – C5 being their Lowest Grades.
Though the KNUT boss has declined to discuss the proposal specifics they presented to the TSC, information in the public domain reveals that the union is pushing for a basic salary increase of 15 to 20 per cent.
Why classroom teachers will reap more
According to report by the SRC, the last job evaluation was skewed hence favouring school heads while leaving classroom teachers with nothing.
The report further showed that present job descriptions of the classroom teachers based on the 2016/17 evaluation, grossly undervalued their worth resulting in poor pay since it didn’t capture the job descriptions of a classroom teacher in 2016.
This implied that for that last four years (2017-2021) classroom teachers who are the majority staff were underpaid in the previous CBA which elapsed in June 2021.
KUPPET developed elaborate thirty-one (31) new job descriptions which capture the true worth of the classroom teachers and submitted the same to TSC so that it can submit to SRC for re-evaluation, so that they can fully be captured in the 2021/2022-2021/2025 remuneration review cycle.
The new job evaluation which the union submitted to the employer recognizes classroom teachers’ new responsibilities under the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and further gives them managerial or supervisory roles.
The new supervisory roles of a classroom teacher the union come up with include coordinating learning and teaching activities for effective learning, supervise adherence by learners to school rules regulations and routine, supervise leaners’ safety and health during practical learning sessions, supervise school programmes and activities while on duty, and co-ordinate subjects in their areas of specialization.
The new operational responsibilities of the classroom teachers include among others undertaking teaching duties as per the approved curriculum, develop and maintain professional documents, assess leaners’ abilities, skills and learning needs; prepare assessment rubrics and guide leaners’ in the development of portfolios, mentoring and coaching newly recruited teachers, and monitoring leaners achievements through continuous assessment.
