TSC to decide fate of 70,000 relief teachers next week

TSC to decide fate of 70,000 relief teachers next week

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will on next week decide the fate of the 70,000 relief teachers it had hired on a three months contract.

TSC chairperson Lydia Nzomo said the commission will announce the fate of the teachers it had already hired after the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) called off the five-week long strike that had paralyzed learning activities in all public schools.

Nzomo said that she was not surprised that the teachers’ strike was called off since the court had already suspended it.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court said that despite the strike being legal, it was suspended for 90 days until the dispute surrounding their pay rise is resolved.

The Court further warned the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) from victimizing any teacher and pay them their salaries for the month of September which they have been on strike.

In the ruling, Justice Nelson Abuodha ordered TSC and the Labour Cabinet Secretary to appoint an independent conciliator in 30 days to resolve the teachers’ salary increment dispute.

The Judge said that after 90 days, any party would be free to raise issues.

In his ruling, Justice Abuodha said the ongoing teachers’ strike is legal and declined to issue orders prohibiting it.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) called off the strike saying that the decision was in line with the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruling suspending the strike for 90 days.

KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion said that teachers will now resume duties on Monday, October 5th, 2015.

Sossion said that the ruling by Justice Nelson Obuodha suspending the strike and failure by Justice Nduma Nderi to issue orders not to suspend the strike were unfair.

The two judges, both of the Employment and Labour Relations Court, said that the strike remained suspended even as an appeal challenging the pay rise is ongoing.

The union further said that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has failed to comply with an earlier court order warning it against withholding teachers’ pay for the month of September.

The teachers’ strike has been ongoing for five weeks, with various organizations calling on the government to give the teachers their pay increment.

Teacher’s downed their tools at the beginning of September over the pay dispute paralyzing learning activities in all public schools across the country.

 

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kenya teachers tsc KNUT KUPPET Teacher's strike

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