Teachers strike bite despite sack threats

Despite sacking threats from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), teachers stayed away from their work stations in most parts of the country on Monday.

Under their unions, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET), teachers defied directives issued by TSC that they report to work by Monday 8AM or face the sack.

TSC argued that the strike was illegal following a court ruling that it was unprotected since the teachers did not give a one-week notice as per the Labour Act.

Instead, teachers heeded to the call by their unions to hold demonstrations across the country to pressure the government to pay them the 50 – 60% pay rise awarded to them by the Employment and Labour Relations Court in June.

In Baringo, Nandi, Nairobi, Nakuru and Laikipia among other counties, teachers thronged the streets chanting anti-TSC slogans and displaying placards demanding for the pay rise.

At the same time, teachers from Kipkelion and Londiani districts in Kericho condemned the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) chair Sarah Serem for calling for their evaluation.

The teachers said they cannot be evaluated since they are not employees of the Teachers Service Commission and that should such happen, only TSC can carry out the evaluation process.

Led by Kipkelion branch KNUT Executive Secretary David Bore, the teachers claimed that Serem’s utterances showed that she lacked the interests of teachers at heart, adding that when other state officers raised their salaries, she did not object.

The strike entered the second week Monday as learning activities in all public primary and secondary schools remain paralysed.