The appointment of a conciliator in the dispute between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Kenya Union of Teachers (Knut) on the teachers strike tilted the scales against the union.
It made Knut break ranks with the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) on the strike, the first one by teachers under President William Ruto's administration.
Behind the scenes, the Ministry of Labour appointed one of its senior officers, Mr Richard Litaba, last Friday, throwing the Knut strike roll out plan into disarray, the Nation has learnt.
A Ms M. Muli, the Industrial Relations Officer at the ministry wrote the letter – MLSP/LD/IR/TU/5/1 on Friday to KNUT and the TSC in reference to the union’s letter ref: KNUTLAB/5214/2024 dated August 14th, 2024.
“I understand the issues in dispute to be failure to implement the second phase of 2021/2025 amended CBA signed between TSC and KNUT, failure to remit third party deductions accrued to teachers respective organisations” Ms Muli stated in the letter.
The letter further highlighted the dispute to include “conversion of 46,000 Junior School teachers to permanent and pensionable terms and employment of 20,000 new teachers, promotion of 130,000 stagnated teachers on various job groups.”
Failure to remit capitation to the medical insurer has led to service providers denying sick teachers and their families’ services was also captured in the letter as an area of conflict between the parties.
“In light of the above, I have appointed Mr Richard Litaba of headquarters Labour Office to assist the parties resolve the issues amicably through consultative dialogue” Ms Muli stated in the letter the Nation has seen.
“As provided for by the law, the union is required to immediately suspend the strike notice and await the outcome of the envisaged consultation, as the dispute resolution mechanism has already been set in motion” Ms Muli directed.
The letter is copied to Central Organisation of Trade Union Secretary-General Francis Atwoli and the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE).
It is understood that the letter threw the Knuttop guns in a spin, with the union calling a consultative meetings on Saturday, which culminated in the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Sunday.
“It was resolved through a vote that the strike be called off when it emerged that allowing the conciliator to take over would in effect be an enabler for TSC to stop implementation of phase two of the 2021-2025 CBA,” A NEC member told the Nation on condition of anonymity, citing sensitivity of the matter.
In effect, the benefits in the CBA would not be factored into the August pay slip and backdated to July 1, 2024. The commission would have held it in abeyance as a result of the dispute, in what would have set the teachers against the union.
Knut Secretary-General Collins Oyuu is said to have taken a lot of time seeking to convince the NEC members to back the move to withdraw the strike with demands for assurance TSC and the government would not throw them under the bus.
“With the appointment of a conciliator, the negotiation for the 2025-2029 CBA would not have been opened by the commission as a dispute would still be in existence and the engagement (reconciliation) would have dragged on beyond the year” another official said again on condition of anonymity, citing sensitivity of the matter.
A Knut official said the union top brass was careful not to fall into a similar trap in the past over salary increments for the teachers where they came out empty handed.
“In the past, during the reign of former Secretary General Wilson Sossion, the 35 per cent which was due for teachers and had been offered by TSC was all lost when the union insisted on over 50 per cent” The official said.
It has also emerged that TSC payroll officers had been summoned to the offices on Saturday and Sunday and were waiting for the green light to work overnight processing the pay slips for the teachers.
Senior officers at the commission had after the failed talks between TSC, Knut and Kuppet) been taken on a retreat to a hotel in Machakos county to work on the implementation of salary increment for the teachers.
“We expected the unions to call off the strike earlier to enable us to process the pay slips, but it took longer than was expected for the truce to be called,” a senior TSC official said.
With the strike called off and implementation of the 2021-2025 CBA, TSC has committed to open negotiations with Knut next month (September, 2024).
It was not lost on observers that shortly after the strike was called off by Knut, the Cabinet Secretary for Education Julius Mgosi Ogamba issued a statement congratulating the union for the move.
It clearly pointed to anxiety in government on the issue ahead of the re-opening of schools on Monday, August 26, 2024.
Still, it could point to a well choreographed plan by the government to divide the unions, with KUPPET having a few hours earlier voted to proceed with the strike.
