COTU suspends nationwide strike, await ruling on TSC case

Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) has suspended its national workers strike that had been planned for Monday to support striking teachers.

The Union’s Secretary General Francis Atwoli said he has been advised by their lawyers to wait for Tuesday’s court ruling, on a case in which the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is challenging teachers’ pay increment, before making a decision.

Atwoli has however insisted that workers will not hesitate to join teachers in their strike to push the government to effect the 50 to 60 per cent pay rise rewarded by the Employment and Labour Relations Court.

He accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of ignoring the plight of teachers saying his move to rule out any increment without holding negotiations with teachers was unfortunate.

Efforts by TSC to block the increment have so far have failed to bear fruit with both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court backing the ruling.

The Supreme Court is set to rule on the matter on Tuesday after directing the parties involved to file submissions within seven days.

Crippling the economy

COTU’s planned strike has faced opposition from the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) who termed it illegal.

FKE said the seven-day strike planned by COTU would adversely affect the economy saying the union is not party to the dispute between TSC, and Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet).

In a public rally last week, COTU had vowed to join teachers in their strike in a bid to push the government to adhere to their salary demands.

The strike will enter the third week on Monday with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s dismissal of the pay increment pointing at a long standing impasse.

In his address to the country’s business community, Kenyatta said that the salary demand by teachers in unsustainable adding that the government will have to increase taxes to foot the demand.

He further noted that increasing teachers’ salaries will create a precedence that will be followed by other public services.