UASU Gives Strike Notice As Funding And Salaries Squabble Continues
A new squabble has erupted over billions of shillings sent to private universities to support state-funded students, with the academic staff union joining those who oppose the move.
According to the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU), lecture halls in public universities have been left empty as the government has sent financial aid to students enrolled in private institutions.
Furthermore, the Union requests that the government review funding in order to facilitate proper remuneration of their members.
The information was revealed during a press conference held on Friday by UASU officials led by Secretary General Constantine Wasonga.
The briefing took place following the union’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
UASU has also issued a seven-day strike notice to Egerton University in order to resume full pay for lecturers, which is currently set at 57%.
“As a union, we have resolved that we are not going to sit back and watch our colleagues from Egerton University continue to earn 57 percent of salaries due to them,” said Wesonga.
The statement regarding billions of dollars sent to private universities, on the other hand, will spark new debate as academic staff now join the management of public universities and some Members of Parliament (MPs) who have openly opposed the initiative.
“On October 11, NEC resolved that it is going to give a seven days’ strike notice to Egerton University management and government that failure to pay everything that is owed to university staff, they will down their labour on October 17 and if they are not careful, it will cascade to all universities,” he added.
Wesonga stated that it is now up to the government to adequately fund universities in order to eliminate the perennial problems of non-implementation of their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and non-remittance of statutory deductions.
Furthermore, the lecturers want one-tier CBA negotiations so that they can receive uniform pay. Currently, the union’s national office negotiates salaries and allowances for all first-tier employees.
The university chapters then withdraw to conduct internal negotiations with the management of the institutions.
Furthermore, Wesonga stated that the government should allocate funds for mass recruitment of lecturers in public universities, just as it does in primary and secondary schools.
Wesonga claims that the government’s failure to hire more lecturers has forced many universities to rely on part-time lecturers who are underpaid or sometimes not paid.
Academic staff wants this funding to be stopped and money channeled to public universities, which they claim will help stabilize the institutions.
UASU Gives Strike Notice As Funding And Salaries Squabble Continues
