Teachers unions to challenge ruling on pay

More than 240,000 teachers will have to wait longer for their September pay as their unions resolved to challenge the appellate court's ruling.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has, however, kept quiet over the release of the September pay.

In his statement to the two unions, President Uhuru Kenyatta asked both parties to withdraw all court cases to allow for a fresh start to the pay talks.

The President also asked the teachers' employer to consider paying the missed salary and to start talks for a four-year Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

But yesterday, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) held a meeting to discuss the State House deal and agreed that the role of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in determining the teachers' pay must be challenged.

"We agreed that the President's intervention in the matter was good but we certainly would challenge the SRC position in this matter," said Akello Misori Kuppet, secretary general, after the National Governing Council meeting.

He said the union's lawyers have already issued a notice of appeal on the matter.

Sources at the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) also told The Standard that the union is likely to seek the Supreme Court's intervention on the Court of Appeal ruling.

An advisory opinion by PLO Lumumba to Knut says "the dispute can only be brought to finality by the Supreme Court".

The opinion seen by The Standard faults the Court of Appeal judges' ruling on the role of SRC saying: "TSC is not bound by the advice of SRC on the matter". The advisory further says only TSC has the mandate to conduct a job evaluation exercise of the teachers.

Whether to take the State House deal or to pursue the Supreme Court option has been the subject of sharp division among senior Knut officials.

Six Knut Steering Committee members have openly supported the State House deal with union's secretary general, Wilson Sossion, fronting for Supreme Court.

Two meetings of Knut top decision-making organs-National Executive Council and the Advisory Council- have been slated for tomorrow and Friday respectively. The position of the two bodies on the salaries' deal shall be final on the matter.

In their ruling, the Court of Appeal judges agreed that the salary award was "irregular" because the SRC's counsel was never sought.