Court declares lecturers’ strike unprotected, calls for resumption of talks
University of Eldoret Uasu secretary general Philip Chebunet together with his counterparts from Moi University at the start of the lecturers' strike in Eldoret on October 29, 2024.
What you need to know:
- The academic staff are demanding execution of the return-to-work-formula they signed with the government.
- All interested parties in the matter have also been granted two weeks to file and serve their respective responses.
The Labour court has declared the ongoing lecturers’ strike unprotected, and directed the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) to resume talks.
The job boycott that started on Tuesday has paralysed learning in public universities and thrown graduation plans into a spin as lecturers vow to keep off campuses.
The academic staff are demanding execution of the return-to-work-formula they signed with the government in September, an agreement in which they were to receive salary raises ranging from seven to 10 percent.
In the decision delivered by Justice Agnes Nzei on Tuesday evening, the Employment and Labour Relations Court restrained Uasu from calling on its members or inciting them to participate in the industrial action.
The order extends to any other strikes on any other dates regarding matters that are part of the negotiations that ended in disarray after Uasu and IPUCCF failed to agree on execution of the return-to-work-formula signed on September 26, 2024.
“All the parties herein are hereby directed to go back to the negotiation table, in good faith and to fast track negotiations as set out in the return-to-work-formula. The respondent (Uasu) is granted 14 days to file and serve a response to the notice of motion dated October 24, 2024,” Justice Nzei ordered.
All interested parties in the matter have also been granted two weeks to file and serve their respective responses to the application.
The mention for further directions in the matter has been moved from November 5 to November 28, 2024.
The court order comes two days after Uasu Secretary-General Constatine Wasonga instructed its union members not to teach, mark or invigilate university examinations until the government honour the pay increment deal they signed.
In the agreement, lecturers in lower grades were to get a 10 per cent pay increment while those in higher grades were to get a seven percent raise.
There was to also be a four per cent annual increase on their basic salary. This deal was to be backdated for 2023-2024 and part of 2024-2025 financial years, and effected in the October 2024 salaries.
