TSC moves to Supreme Court to block teachers pay rise

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking to stop a ruling awarding teachers a salary increment of between 50 to 60 percent.

The petition, which has been certified as urgent, comes a week after the Court of Appeal upheld a decision by the Industrial and Labour Relations Court to award teachers the increment pending the hearing of the case on September 22^nd, 2015.

In a media briefing on Sunday, Kenya Union of Teachers (KNUT) threatened to call for a national strike if the government does not effect the salary increment as directed by the court.

“We would like to notify the government that if there will be no better pay by the end of August, teachers will not resume work,” warned KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion.

Sossion further termed the government’s move to appeal the ruling as disrespectful noting that the union’s lawyers had already been served with papers from the Court of Appeal and will act on it.

In June this year, Court ordered the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to increase teachers’ salary from between 50 to 60 per cent dating back to July 2013 to cover up to July 2017.

Judge Justice Nduma Nderi ordered that the pay increase agreement between the teachers’ union, Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Teachers Service Commission should be registered with the court within 30 days.

The ruling marked a new phase of the protracted battle between teachers and the TSC after years of contention over increment that led to nationwide strikes.

The TSC had taken their remuneration battle to the Employment and Labour Relations Court after the January 2015 strike that paralysed education around the country.