The deal between post primary teachers and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), which recently ended a nationwide strike, has been filed in court, even as a section of teachers across the country expressed outrage at the calling off of their boycott over what they termed as a "raw deal".
TSC and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) filed a consent at the Labour court on Wednesday, while agreeing to settle pending matters through talks. Justice Anna Ngibuini Mwaure then adopted the consent as an order of the court.
Through the consent, TSC and Kuppet also withdrew the suits and counter-suits they had filed against each other.
The announcement to end the strike drew mixed reactions from teachers. Some of them criticised their union leadership for ending the job boycott without signing a concrete deal. However, according to Secretary-General Akello Misori, the consent is superior to a return-to-work formula since it is now an order of the court that must be enforced by both parties.
Speaking in Mombasa yesterday, Mr Misori defended his decision to call off the strike, saying most of the issues that Kuppet raised were addressed by TSC.
"We have a few leaders who are claiming they were not informed of the meeting resolutions. I was shocked with that since we have a channel of communication and the issues which led us to go on strike were addressed," he said.
He was flanked by Central Organization of Trade Unions (Cotu) Secretary-General Francis Atwoli who also defended Kuppet's national leaders.
"Cotu was very much aware of the talks and those who are claiming Kuppet acted without their approval should respect decisions made on their behalf by their leaders. You cannot have a return-to-work formula and continue with the strike," said Mr Atwoli.
The court document lists all grievances raised by Kuppet before the strike and their respective stages of resolution. TSC is listed as the petitioner while Kuppet is the respondent, while the Ministry of Labour is an interested party.
Glaring omission: JSS teachers
A glaring omission from the original list of demands by Kuppet is the confirmation to permanent terms for 46,000 junior school teachers who are employed on short-term contracts.
“The Commission maintained that it lacked authority to provide a binding commitment since the funds for that purpose had not been provided to it by Parliament. We oppose the informalisation of the teaching service. The employment of fully qualified and registered teachers as interns is a bad labour practice which also goes against the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation on the Status of Teachers. We will take up the matter with President William Ruto once he comes back from his trip to China,” said Mr Misori.
Top on the list of grievances resolved is the implementation of Phase II of the 2021–2025 collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Teachers received the pay increment at the end of August which included July arrears.
According to the document, TSC has remitted all statutory and third party deductions from teachers’ salaries as well as starting a review of the controversial career progression guidelines.
TSC has also restored funding of the teachers’ medical scheme after they complained that they were being turned away by service providers. TSC has also to not victimising any teacher for participating in the strike.
Although Kuppet had demanded immediate promotion of 130,000 teachers who it said had stagnated in the same job groups for long, they seem to have accepted the assertion by TSC that already 51,232 teachers have been promoted. The Commission committed to continue promoting more “as and when budgetary allocations are availed by Parliament”.
The parties also agreed to commence negotiations for the 2025 – 2029 CBA once Kuppet submits its memorandum of demands to the employer.
