Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers Deputy Secretary-General Moses Nthurima addressing journalists at their headquarters in Nairobi on June 12, 2024.
The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has received a huge boost as 46,000 junior school teachers, who were recently employed by the government, are set to join the union.
The Nation has confirmed that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has started deducting agency fees from the teachers whose employment was converted to permanent and pensionable in January. The money has been forwarded to Kuppet.
The union is expected to meet representatives of the JS teachers today to discuss their membership in the union.
Kuppet acting secretary-general Moses Nthurima said that the union received the agency fees deducted from the teachers from their February salaries.
This brings an end to the tussle for the teachers’ between Kuppet and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), which mainly draws its membership from primary school teachers.
“We’re still talking to them to join by validating their membership through the online portal. Under section 49 of the Labour Relations Act, it is provided that a worker who enjoys a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiated by a union will pay an equivalent to union dues. So the junior school teachers came to a CBA negotiated by Kuppet. The majority are paying agency fees,” Mr Nthurima said.
Non-Kuppet members are charged an agency fee of 1.8 per cent of their basic salary, the same rate members pay as union dues.
However, the junior school teachers have demanded representation in Kuppet's national executive positions.
The JS teachers formed an association last year to agitate for their rights, Kenya Junior School Teachers Association (Kejusta).
Interim officials of the association said that they had been invited by Kuppet for a consultative meeting.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers Secretary General Akello Misori (centre) and other Kuppet officials address the media in Nairobi on September 20, 2024.
“The Kuppet National Executive Board has the pleasure of inviting the under-mentioned leaders to a consultative meeting with the Kuppet NEB in Nairobi. By a copy of this letter, Kuppet requests the respective heads of institutions to grant permission for the teachers to attend the meeting,” reads a letter by Mr Nthurima.
Initially, the teachers were weighing between joining either Kuppet or Knut. They had demanded over 100 positions from the unions, saying that they needed equitable representation.
Kejusta national chairperson and spokesperson Omari Omari said that their members have all been put under Kuppet.
“The unions have an agreement to put all primary school teachers in Knut and all post-primary teachers under Kuppet. We are, however, not satisfied with the treatment we are getting from Kuppet. Even with our big number of over 46,000 teachers, we have been given only one slot in the leadership,” said Mr Omari.
“It is an assistant to the senior secondary secretary. We are wondering why we are being treated as second-class members while we contribute over Sh40 million per month to Kuppet,” he added.
He accused the union of having “abandoned” them, saying many JS teachers face harassment and mistreatment in primary schools but Kuppet has never made a statement about the same.
“Knut has been all over very actively defending and protecting its members (the headteachers who assault our JS members,” he said. He cited the recent cases reported in Nyamira and Turkana counties where some JS teachers were allegedly physically assaulted headteachers.
Knut Secretary General Collins Oyuu during a media briefing on August 16, 2024.
“In all these, Kuppet has not come out to help calm the situation. We agree that most of our teachers are very young and need guidance, they might be making mistakes. But there are ways laid down on how best to correct them. The TSC Code of Conducts is clear,” said Mr Omari.
He said that they will attend the meeting with the Kuppet National Executive Board today.
“We shall also be advocating for the correction of the wrongs in the new constitution. JS teachers fought for their employment single-handedly but we are now under Kuppet, remitting millions monthly. It’s now only fair that they give us a proper number of slots in the union and also have our issues on their agenda list,” said Mr Omari.
Other agendas they will table include compensation for the time they served under the “internship”, promotion and independence of JS (administration) from primary schools.
“Since they have started taking JS teachers’ money now, it’s only fair that they give the teachers better representation. No taxation without representation,” said Mr Omar.
During the Knut delegates’ conference in Mombasa County in December last year, the JS teachers demanded positions in the giant union. Mr Omari demanded 500 positions within the union nationwide as a condition for their membership.
“As JS teachers, we have faced numerous challenges that remained unresolved due to the lack of union representation. We were advised to form or join a union to effectively voice our concerns. While we have the option to join Kuppet or Knut, we have specific demands that need to be addressed,” said Mr Omari.
However, Knut Secretary-General Collins Oyuu, asked the teachers to be patient as their demands were being addressed.
watieno@ke.nationmedia.com
