Varsity workers unions seal deal with government, end one-week strike
Universities Academic Staff Union Secretary General Constantine Wesonga (center) with lecturers of Technical University of Kenya on September 18, 2024 during the first day of the university lecturer’s nationwide strike.
What you need to know:
- University workers unions and the government have signed a return-to-work formula.
- The deal that was brokered by the Ministry of Labour effectively ends the one-week strike.
Lecturers and other staff in public universities have signed a return-to-work formula with the government, effectively ending the one-week strike that had paralysed operations across public universities.
As part of the deal, workers in job grades 13A, 14A and 15A will get a 7 per cent pay increase on their basic salary while those in job grades 10A, 11A, and 12A will have their basic salaries go up by 10 per cent.
IPUCCF and the unions will meet again on Friday September 27 2024 to work salary scale simulations for the 2023 -2024 and 2024 -2025 financial years which will be implemented in the October salaries.
The unions are therefore expected to call off the strike and the government has assured that none of the workers who participated in the strike will be victimised.
“Consequently, the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the 2021 - 2025 shall cover the last two years of the cycle beginning July 1 2023,” the agreement reads.
They will also benefit from an automatic annual increment computed at four per cent of the basic salary for the two years of the CBA cycle beginning July 1 2023.
The deal was brokered by the Ministry of Labour just a day after the cabinet secretary Alfred Mutua formed an inter-ministerial committee to look into the dispute.
The committee included representatives from the ministries of Labour, Education and the National Treasury, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), public universities, the State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC), and the workers’ unions.
The agreement was signed at the Ministry of Labour headquarters between the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) and officials of the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu), Kenya Universities Staff Union (Kusu) and the Kenya Union of Domestic Hotels Educational Institutions Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudheiha).
“Both parties recognise the importance of resolving the current dispute amicably to restore normal operations in public universities and their constituent university colleges, protect the academic calendar and uphold the welfare of academic staff,” the document reads, in part.
The parties also agreed that the retirement age for graduate assistants, tutorial fellows and assistant lecturers be harmonised at 70 years while senior lecturers, associate professors and professors will retire at 74 years.
The parties also agreed on a framework for car loans and mortgage schemes for universities staff while in the next one month, they will work on the pending issues which include harmonization of allowances, a medical cover and promotions, among others.
