The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has stepped into the row between teachers and their employer over the issue of two payrolls that have been in place since July last year.
SRC Chief Executive Officer Anne Gitau said that the continued existence of two different payrolls at the Teachers Service Commission amounts to non-compliance with the Commission’s advice.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) wrote to SRC on November 24 last year after TSC implemented a pay hike for 318,000 teachers and left out 103,000 others who were members of the union.
TSC also recovered money that they had been paid since July 2017 following the signing of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in October 2016. The actions saw Knut lose 80,000 members.
“The Commission notes that the matter raised in the letter could amount to non-compliance to SRC advice. Consequently, the Commission would like to urgently establish the status of the matter by continuous compliance checks in line with its matter,” reads a letter by Ms Gitau to TSC boss Nancy Macharia dated February 24.
On February 25, Ms Gitau fired another letter to TSC asking the commission to appoint an officer to help it in verifying the allegations on February 28.
Ms Gitau said the Commission will undertake a compliance check in TSC to determine the status of the implementation of various circulars and advisories issued by SRC.
She said the engagement is administrative and will involve face to face interviews with the key implementers of the SRC circulars, verification of personnel payment records and clarification on benefits.
TSC head of communication Beatrice Wababu said the Friday meeting did not take place but denied claims that the Commission has two payrolls.
“We only have one payroll,” said Ms Wababu on phone, but she did not explain why the meeting did not take place.
Knut members missed the third phase of the Sh54billion increment after a fall-out with TSC, which insisted that the decision was based on the Labour Court ruling.
The court ordered that terms of service for teachers be based on the schemes of service and not career progression guidelines (CPG) as TSC had wanted.
“This will apply to 103,624 teachers who also include head teachers, deputy head teachers and senior teachers. Inevitably, this will also lead to Knut members losing all the benefits embedded in the CPG as an implementation tool for the CBA,” TSC said in a statement last year in reference to the ruling.
Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion has insisted that the position taken by TSC, is wrong, saying the court ruling was direct.
“It is wrong for TSC to interpret the ruling in a manner that would hurt teachers,” said Mr Sossion.
At the same time, TSC has been put to task by a parliamentary committee over its failure to remit union dues to Knut.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee chaired by Opiyo Wandayi last week, Ms Macharia was at pains to explain why the Commission was remitting dues to other unions and associations except Knut.
“We do not have any outstanding remittances because we do not keep money. We deduct and remit but we have been having teething problems, but we are now digitising our system,” Ms Macharia told the committee.
According to Mr Sossion, TSC has not submitted Sh800 million to Knut since late last year paralysing the union’s activities.
“For Knut to function, deductions must be made and remitted to its account. But what the TSC boss is doing is to kill Knut,” said the MP.
His Suna West counterpart Peter Masara complained that the TSC boss has been treating teachers casually and had made it hard to get her to respond to issues in the constituencies.
“When you call her, she tells you to deal with any of her two PAs (personal assistants) who are even more complicated to deal with than herself. It’s even easier to get the president than the TSC boss,” he lamented.
