Unionists snub TSC training on pay talks

Kenya National Union of Teachers National chairman Mudzo Nzili addressing the Advisory Council meeting before they officially called off the National strike at Kenya International Conventional Center. (PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE/ STANDARD)

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has skipped a training organised by the teachers' employer ahead of new pay negotiations.

However, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) representatives are attending the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) training, which is being conducted by Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) on behalf of Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

The five-day training at Tom Mboya Labour College was meant for national leaders from both Knut and Kuppet, who are due to hold talks with TSC on a new five-year CBA that is expected to be effective in October.

Both unions have made proposals of between 200 and 300 per cent pay rise, but TSC has declined to be drawn into public discussions on the pay demands.

With a showdown expected between Knut officials and TSC, the organisers yesterday barred the media from attending the meeting, saying it was "not meant for coverage".

Sources from the meeting said Knut officials were conspicuously missing from the training.

In an interview, Knut Chairman Mudzo Nzili emphasised that they will not attend the training.

"What is this meeting? We are not part of that meeting. Knut started a long time ago, yet we have never been trained by the employer to negotiate with it," said Nzili.

He added: "You cannot be trained by your mother-in-law on how to seduce her daughter. It has never happened. We cannot go there. As the leader of the delegation, we shall not be part of that training," he vowed.

However, Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori confirmed that he was attending the training that began yesterday.

Also in attendance are Omboko Milemba (Kuppet chairman), Paul Maingi (organising secretary), Moses Nthurima (deputy secretary general), Catherine Wambilyanga (secretary, gender) Sammy Chelang'a (secretary, tertiary education), and Edward Obwocha (national secretary, secondary).

TSC representatives included Human Resource and Development director Josephine Maundu, Mary Rotich (director, teacher management), among others.

The training comes a months after TSC and the teacher's unions signed a CBA for the unions which introduced standard daily subsistence allowance for teachers.

The National Secretary for Secondary Institutions Edward Obwocha said the training will prepare the unions on the upcoming CBA.

The initial CBA that runs from July 2013 to June 30, 2017, was signed in June this year.

This set the stage for talks on the next CBA that will cater for the period 2017-2021. Among the items that unions want addressed is a rise in basic salary that had stalled the signing of the initial agreement that prompted a nationwide strike.

"This training is meant to equip us with skills in regards to negotiating the 2017-2021 CBA. This training is done ahead of the negotiations so that people understand what it really entails," said Mr Obwocha.

The unions have gone back to the initial pay demand that TSC later controversially countered with a 50-60 per cent offer that the Government later rejected, sparking the strike.

Teachers called off the strike after the Industrial Court assumed arbitration of the dispute and handed tutors a first-round victory by upholding the award, but which the Government successfully petitioned the Court of Appeal to scrap.

Knut says teachers in job groups G to N should have their basic pay increased by 300 per cent while those in groups P to T should get a 200 per cent rise.

President Uhuru Kenyatta urged TSC to sign a new CBA with the teachers' unions by October.