Pay teachers new salaries as you argue your case, judges tell TSC

Teachers in Mombasa celebrate the Industrial Court's ruling that gave them a pay increment of between 50-60 per cent last month. TSC has been compelled to give them the new salaries pending determination of its appeal. [PHOTO: GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD]

 

Teachers will now enjoy a higher pay next month after the Court of Appeal ordered the Government to honour the contested salary increment.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) lost the first round of its appeal against a 50 to 60 per cent salary increment after the appellate court directed that the new pay deal be implemented from August 1.

And to ensure the orders are implemented, the judges warned TSC that its application challenging the award by the Employment and Labour Relations Court will be dismissed if teachers are not paid the new salaries.

Appellate judges Jamilla Mohamed, Mohamed Warsame and Sankale ole Kantai made the ruling yesterday pending determination of the appeal by TSC that has been opposed by the two teachers’ unions.

TSC will now be required to mobilise an additional Sh4.96 billion to meet the additional salary demand in August. Currently, the teachers’ monthly wage bill stands at Sh9.92 billion.

temporary reprieve

But the TSC will have a temporary reprieve after the appellate judges suspended payment of Sh37 billion in arrears as the Employment and Labour Relations Court had backdated the new pay to 2013.

If the arrears had been upheld, Treasury would have been left grappling with a Sh50 billion budget hole.

If the pay hike is implemented as ordered by the court, the lowest paid teacher will pocket Sh21,304 up from Sh16,692, while the highest paid teacher in group R will get Sh144,928, up from Sh109,089.

“The applicant shall implement the orders by the judge in respect of basic salary with immediate effect from August 1. Thereafter, the applicant shall continue to pay the above increment until the hearing and final determination of the appeal,” they ruled.

The current annual pay for teachers is Sh119 billion and the Government will now require a total of Sh178.5 billion for the new wage bill until the next financial year.

And starting from August 1, it will have to incur a monthly wage bill of Sh14.9 billion.

The decision by the judges has left TSC with a hard task of ensuring the case is expedited with the hope that the new salary increment would be quashed.

 Justices Jamilla, ole Kantai and Warsame ruled that the partial stay of the lower court’s orders will lapse in case TSC defies the order.

“We issue a stay of payment of the arrears and allowances until the hearing and determination of the case. We have given you a conditional stay and if you do not comply the application stands dismissed,” the three judges ruled.

They arrived at the decision after two days of intense exchanges between TSC, Attorney General Githu Muigai and the Salaries  Remuneration Commission on one hand, and the Kenya National Union of teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) on the other. “We must balance the interests of the parties within the law and considering the circumstances surrounding this case, we order that the parties should come back September 22,” the judges ordered.

The Government usually sets aside 0.26 per cent of the total budget for emergencies in every financial year.

Lawyers for the union argued the National Treasury is to blame for not allocating additional money for teachers’ pay in the 2015-2016 budget, as it was aware the matter was in court and could be determined either way.

Lawyers Paul Muite, John Mbaluto and Judy Guserwa poked holes in the State’s argument  it did not have money to pay the teachers, saying it was was only trying to use the court to run away from its responsibilities.

The lawyers also questioned how the State was planning to pay the extra 5,000 more teachers it intends to hire if indeed it had nothing in its coffers.

“Why does TSC want to add more problems whereas it has a headache that it is unable to deal with already?” lawyer Muite posed.

SRC was also put to task over why it had not reviewed teachers’ salaries for the past five years of its existence.

The three judges noted it was a contradiction that while the salaries for members of county assemblies, senators and women representatives were decided immediately the positions were created, those of the teachers remained undetermined.

good news

TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia told The Standard she could not comment on the ruling as she was out of the country.

“I am out of the country and I have not seen the ruling as yet. I cannot comment on it,” she said.

Union officials lauded the ruling, saying the court had saved teachers from continued agony.

“We are excited about the decision by the court. We will now have the money awarded by the Labour Court being paid to all teachers,” Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori said.

Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion is out of the country.