KNUT Protests TSC’s Move to Shift JSS Teachers to KUPPET Membership
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has protested a decision by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to register Junior Secondary Schools under Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) rather than KNUT.
Mercy Ndung’u, the KNUT’s 2nd National Women Representative, described the alleged decision by TSC to remove the newly recruited JSS teachers from KNUT membership to KUPPET as ‘a provocation of the highest order’.
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She contended that JSS teachers teaching in public primary schools should automatically become KNUT members and only leave voluntarily to join KUPPET.
Ndung’u stated that the TSC should cease interfering in the activities of teachers’ trade unions and allow newly recruited JSS tutors to freely choose their union memberships.
Ndung’u lamented that the alleged move by TSC was not only unjust but also intended to weaken KNUT’s bargaining power when contending for the rights and welfare of its members.
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She threatened that KNUT would pursue legal recourse if TSC did not abandon its plan to remove more than 30,000 JSS teachers from KNUT membership.
During the Eldoret West Knut branch Annual General Meeting, where she was the honored guest, the unionist addressed the press at Bishop Delany Mixed Secondary School in Eldoret town.
Sammy Bor, the Rift Valley regional representative for the National Executive Council, was in charge of bringing union branch leaders from the South Rift and North Rift regions to the event.
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Hundreds of JSS teachers who enrolled as KNUT members were allegedly removed from the union’s membership database, sparking outrage from KNUT.
Bor, who is also the Executive Secretary of the union’s Eldoret East branch, stated in his remarks that TSC intended to deprive the union of the resources necessary to manage its affairs for the advantage of members across the country.
“KNUT is going to write to TSC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Nancy Macharia demanding an explanation why JSS teachers who had enlisted as members were moved to KUPPET without their consent,” said Bor.
Bor asserted that TSC’s use of dubious means to defraud their union of its newly recruited members in order to strengthen other unions was inexcusable.
Bor advised that, for the sake of industrial harmony, the TSC should maintain a neutral stance on union-related issues.
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KNUT Protests TSC’s Move to Shift JSS Teachers to KUPPET Membership