KUPPET Issues 7-Day Ultimatum For TSC To Effect 30-75% Teacher’s Pay Increase
Teachers have threatened to strike in response to their employer’s failure to honor their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), a move that could jeopardize national exams scheduled for March.
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) issued a strike notice on Wednesday, February 23, after their demand for new salary negotiations failed to take off.
The teachers’ representative argued that the seven-day strike notice would be implemented if the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) refused to reopen negotiations on their 2021-2025 CBA.
According to KUPPET Secretary-General Akello Misori, the union wrote to TSC on January 17 demanding that the CBA be reopened within 21 days.
“Upon the expiry of the 21 days, the union said it would review the commission’s response before convening its organs to give further directions on the next course of action,” Misori stated
He added, “all the commission has done is to acknowledge our letter and promise to respond at a later stage after ‘interrogating’ the contents.“
TSC’s failure to engage them, according to the KUPPET Secretary-General, has forced them to call for mass action.
In the CBA, the union proposed a 30% to 70% raise for all teachers in the country.
KUPPET Issues 7-Day Ultimatum For TSC To Effect 30-75% Teacher’s Pay Increase
“In the absence of a clear-cut commitment to re-open the talks, we have no idea how long the interrogation might take and our members do not have the patience to wait any longer for a salary review,” he remarked.
Teachers were outraged when the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) signed a non-monetary CBA with TSC. The union, led by Secretary-General Collins Oyuu, began negotiations to end the standoff.
In their proposal, KUPPET requested that teachers’ commuter allowance be increased from Ksh5,000 to Ksh8,000 and that the lowest-paid teacher’s salary be increased from Ksh16,000 to Ksh20,8000.
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However, the CBA has not been honored because talks with TSC have yet to begin.
If the strike is not called off, it will begin just days before the start of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.
The KCPE exams are set to begin from March 7 to 10, paving the way for the KCSE, which is set to begin on March 11.
KUPPET Issues Strike Notice Today After Failed Salary Negotiations With TSC
KUPPET Issues 7-Day Ultimatum For TSC To Effect 30-75% Teacher’s Pay Increase
