Teachers under siege, Namwamba claims

ODM Secretary General Ababu Namwamba has faulted the move by the 5-judge bench of the Appeals Court, to rule in favour of teacher’s employer TSC in the ongoing row where teachers are demanding a 50-60% pay hike.

Speaking in Suna-East Migori County, Namwamba said the government was out to intimidate teachers over their pay, saying it was TSC that proposed the 50-60% pay rise, instead of the earlier agreement of 300%.

His sentiments were echoed by Suna-East MP Junet Mohammed, who expressed dissatisfaction with the Court Of Appeal’s decision.

Teachers Unions, KNUT and KUPPET say, they will head to the Supreme Court next week, to contest the Appeal Court rejection of the teachers pay rise demand.

On Friday, teachers suffered a major blow after the Court of Appeal nullified the 50 – 60% pay rise awarded to them by the Employment and Labour relations Court.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeal said that the Labour Court made a jurisdictional error and ignored the role of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), which is the only constitutional body tasked with determining salaries of civil servants.

The case was filed the Teachers service Commission (TSC) which objected the pay rise that was backdated to 2013 and was supposed to cover the period ending 2017.

In the ruling read by presiding Judge Erastus Githinji, the Court of Appeal said that the Labour court erred in its decision to award the teachers the pay rise as well as in the decision to backdate the pay rise to 2013.

The June 30^th ruling by the Labour Court had ordered TSC to immediately start paying the teachers using the new capping as per the ruling.

The five-Judge bench comprising of Justices James Otieno Odek, Festus Azangalala, Philomena Mwilu, Martha Koome and Erastus Githinji, unanimously rejected the pay hike saying the Labour Court acted unconstitutionally.

The Court further ruled that there was no Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) had been deposited by the warring parties outlining how teachers’ pay would be reviewed and any increments implemented.