President, teachers deal not yet final as suspicion sets in

President Uhuru Kenyatta met top officials of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education (KUPPET ) at State House Nairobi, Wednesday, to chat the way forward for discussions on a collective bargaining agreement with the union.

This comes a day after he met officials of the Kenya National Union of Teachers(KNUT) led by Chairman Mudzo Nzili where they agreed to work on a 4 year collective bargaining agreement within a month.

Some union leaders stayed away from the two meetings, with some union officials also insisting that they will still pursue an appeal at the Supreme Court against a court of appeal ruling overturning a 50-60% awarded to teachers by the labour relations court.

A meeting at State House Nairobi Tuesday between President Uhuru Kenyatta, TSC officials and KNUT officials had offered a ray of hope on the way out of the perennial teachers strikes’ that regularly cripple the education sector in the country.  The President and the union officials agreed that the union and the government will embark on negotiations that will see a new pay deal based on a 4 year collective bargaining agreement arrived at within a month.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) who had not been invited to Tuesday’s meeting held a separate meeting with the President Wednesday with similar concessions being reached.

‘’I am certain within this month as they proceed to discuss with TSC that we will get a result that will enable all of us work together for the interest of our children.’’ said President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“We shall go back to the table and we hope within the month we shall have gone through the CBA. We are happy that you have returned hope to our teachers,” said Deputy Secretary General Moses Nthurima.

But behind the scenes, there are murmurs of discontent among the teachers about the way the talks are unfolding.  Sources indicate that a request to withdraw all cases on teachers’ salaries won’t be easily granted by the unions.

The union leaders say they are afraid that if they withdraw the cases including the expected appeal at the Supreme Court, TSC might go back on its word, forcing teachers to start their struggle from square one. The government wants teachers to drop the cases.

The teachers are concerned with last week’s court of appeal judgment that gave the Salaries and Remuneration Commission more powers in determining salaries and undertaking job evaluation. They insist that SRC has a limited role in the terms of service of teachers, and they fear their quest to have that addressed legally would be lost were they not to proceed to the Supreme Court.

KNUT’s Secretary General Wilson Sossion, who did not attend the Tuesday State House meeting, declined to comment on the matter saying he is on leave.

On Tuesday, the President directed TSC to release teachers’ salaries for the month of September which had been withheld and grant special allowances to teachers who did not participate in the strike that crippled learning in most schools.