Teacher unions file joint case on salary dispute

Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion (right) and Chairman Mudzo Nzili.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education of Teachers (Kuppet) and Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) formally filed their joint memorandum in the Industrial Court.

This was after calling off an eight-day strike to allow the court to arbitrate their protracted salary dispute.

In what promises to open a new battlefront between the unions and the Government over pay dispute issues, the unions have put down a list of grievances which they have urged the court to address expeditiously.

They now want the court to consider the Government's past conduct in the dispute as it arbitrates the pay dispute.

"...Any awards given by this honorable court should be applied retrospectively to take effect from July 1, 2013. This is so that the teachers may enjoy the full terms of the current 4-year Collective Bargaining Agreement cycle," the memorandum reads.

Delaying tactics

It further says: "To determine otherwise would amount to a grave injustice and would allow the Teachers Service Commission to get away with its delaying tactics, to the detriment of teachers."

The stand by the unions opens another chapter in the ongoing feud between the Government and the teacher unions that saw schools open late after teachers went on strike demanding salary increases.

Subsequently, Justice Nduma Nderi ordered teachers to resume classes, and directed the two unions to file a memorandum harmonising their demands.

The Industrial Court will make a decision on the pay dispute on the basis of the document filed by the unions, and the expected response from the Teachers Service Commission.

The unions argue the last negotiated increment on basic salary enjoyed by teachers' dates back to 1997 which was implemented over a span of 10 years ending in 2007. However, the unions claim there have been arbitrary non-negotiated increments in the name of harmonisation of teachers' salaries with those of civil servants.

"A bare minimum requirement on any salary increment should sufficiently cushion the worker against the prevailing rate of inflation. Inflation indices show that the average annual inflation rates over the past five years have ranged from a high of 16.5 per cent to a low of 4.4 per cent.

Basic salary

Both Kuppet and Knut told the Industrial Court that basic salary is an important component of any worker's remuneration as it is a single indicator of one's earning capacity.