Hope for teachers in salary dispute as Government side blunders

Knut lawyer Paul Muite (left) and Attorney General’s lawyer Stella Munyi at
the Industrial Court yesterday during the hearing of the teachers’ salary
case. [PHOTO: GEORGE NJUNGE/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: A blunder by the Government in the Industrial Court may buttress the teachers' case for higher salaries.

The State shot itself in the foot through a filing by an arm of the Ministry of Labour that suggested that teachers are entitled to a 128 per cent salary rise, translating to Sh137 billion annually.

Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi disowned the document on February 23 when The Standard exclusively published its details, but his attempt to withdraw the hefty salary proposal in court yesterday was rejected by the judge.

Through his lawyer George Kithi, Kambi yesterday pleaded with Justice Nduma Nderi to expunge the first memorandum, saying the Government had not duly approved it before submission.

The Central Planning and Monitoring Unit (CPMU), under the Ministry of Labour, deposited the document in court as part of the State's response. "The first report was filed before this court without the authority of Kambi. I therefore urge the court to admit the second report filed by the CS on February 25, 2015," said Kithi.

But Nderi dismissed the request, noting that Kambi's "report was sneaked into the court records without the court's permission."

He said Kambi ought to have made an application to be enjoined in the case than attempt to make a second submission. "The document is irregular in the face of it and should be expunged from the court records as the CS needed to make a substantive application since it touches on the question of law," Nderi said.

This decision by the judge means that the Government has officially asked the court to consider awarding teachers a 128 per cent salary.

In placing the proposal, CPMU argued that the figures are based on the changes to Consumer Price Index (CPI) that have taken place between July 1, 1997 and June, 30, 2013.

"Over the same period, teachers salaries increased by 152 per cent. Therefore, the net CPI entitlement is 128 per cent," reads the document which was admitted as court record.

The CPMU further suggested that the hefty proposal be spread across four years, with a payment plan of Sh34.3 billion annually. "If this entitlement is spread uniformly across a four-year Collective Bargaining Agreement cycle, it will translate to 32 per cent increment of basic wages annually," reads the document.

The development at the Industrial Court is a major boost for the two teachers' unions as the teachers' employer and the Salaries Review Commission (SRC) had both asked the court to dismiss the unions' demands.

 

It means the court will rely on the document among other memorandum filed by various parties to inform its ruling on the matter.

UNREALISTIC DEMANDS

The SRC and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) termed the teachers demands unrealistic and said any salary increment must follow a comprehensive job evaluation.

Nderi said admitting the second report, which was filed two days after CPMU had submitted its first copy, could amount to an abuse of the court process. "The court is only aware of the report filed on February 23 by the CPMU. The CS may have reasons to file another report, but there was need to seek the court's permission before the second report was filed," he said.

He said the filing of second document breached court procedures.

"I therefore direct that until it is filed properly, it remains irregular," the judge said.

It was not immediately clear whether the Government would make a second attempt to revise the offer it had made to the teachers through the first memorandum.

But the judge said the court would not jeopardise its mandate and directed the matter to proceed to full hearing. He said Labour CS can make a substantive application on the issues raised by the report declined by the court.

Officials of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Wednesday vowed to fight any attempt to alter the contents of the first document filed at the court.

"The court gave timelines under which filing of memorandums was to be done. The CPMU had adequate time to take their document through the necessary processes. If they finally filed it then it is the true position of the Government," said Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion.

SRC weighed in, pleading with the court to admit the second report. SRC lawyer Paul Nyamodi said despite the manner in which the report was filed, the proceedings of the case could not commence without the second report. He said the court should allow Kambi to share with the court new issues raised by the second report.

TSC lawyer Allan Stima also said the second report by CPMU was a primary document in the negotiations spearheaded by the court and asked Kambi to be enjoined in the case.