By Augustine Oduor and Mwaniki Munuhe
Talks between the largest teachers’ union and Government officials Friday night reportedly hammered out a plan to end a three-week long strike.
The proposed deal, however, collapsed spectacularly when given a closer look in the cold light of day. On Saturday, the top decision making organ of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) refused to endorse the return-to-work deal its representatives had allegedly accepted on Friday night.
Instead, they voted to press on into a fourth week of a strike involving over 260,000 public school teachers.
The action by Knut’s National Executive Council has set the stage for a final showdown with the Government, which has promised drastic measures tomorrow if teachers continue to boycott classes.
Acting Head of Civil Service Francis Kimemia sent a terse letter to the Teachers Service Commission on Friday, urging tough action if the strike goes on.
He instructed TSC, the teachers’ employer, to immediately implement the recommendations of a recent Cabinet meeting.
Cabinet on Thursday ordered the mass sacking of teachers should their unions refuse to accept a three-phase implementation to a Sh13.5 billion deal. Ministers told TSC to withhold the September salaries for anyone taking part in the unprotected strike and authorised the hiring of 100,000 new teachers. Cabinet says the new hires will come from among the unemployed trained teachers and retired teachers under age 65.
Mass sackings
Yesterday, Knut chairman Wilson Sossion dismissed the threat of mass sackings.
“We are telling the Government: ‘Sack us today if you want’,” he said. “We are even telling them to take the salaries for September and October if they want. After all, it’s just some little money whose effect in our pockets we don’t feel.”
Sossion added that the retired teachers the Government wants to use as strike breakers would not take the jobs because they, too, are owed and have an axe to grind with authorities, which has allegedly refused to pay out retirement dues.
Knut officials met TSC chiefs on Friday evening at TSC headquarters in Nairobi to resolve the deadlock over how to implement the Government offer on increased allowances. While the Government has insisted on paying out Sh13.5 billion in three phases over ten months, teachers want the deal concluded in one phase. Chief Executive Gabriel Lengoiboni and one other TSC official represented the teachers’ employer.
Knut’s representatives were Chairman Wilson Sossion, Deputy Secretary General Xavier Nyamu, and Treasurer Albanus Mutisya. Sources familiar with the negotiations say the Knut officials agreed to the Government’s ten-month timeline after debate on whether money could be found to fast-track implementation. The Knut representatives, however, demanded and got a rider to the agreement. The clause indicated that if revenue collection improved, the deal would be concluded in two phases.
Knut also secured protection for striking teachers, including: a pledge there would be no dismissals or victimisation, the release in full of September salaries, and the submission of teachers’ dues to the union. The union has 268,000 members, who are paid Sh9.8 billion monthly. Thereafter, the Knut officials reportedly went to another meeting with Treasury officials, which ended at 9pm. Both parties ended the day confident of a deal.
A meeting of the union’s National Executive Council yesterday, however, felt the three-man team involved in the Friday night meeting had conceded too much ground. The NEC was adamant that harmonising teachers’ salary with the civil service was not negotiable and had to be paid in one installment. They called on teachers to continue with the strike until the Government addressed the grievances, which include a 300-per cent pay rise.
A press briefing called to announce the decision was delayed by three hours as haggling continued at the meeting at the Knut headquarters. The NEC is made up of eight Knut officials and 20 representatives from branches.
Government proposal
Sossion finally briefed the media at 2pm, saying the vote on the Government proposal had been defeated.
The proposal read: “The Government shall implement the re-alignment of teachers’ salaries to harmonise with the civil service in three phases as follows: Sh6.0 billion in July 2012, Sh5.0 billion in January 2013, and Sh2.5 billion in June 2013.
It is further proposed that the third phase will be paid with the second phase in January 2013, if the revenue collection base improves substantially.” If accepted, it would have ended the strike.
Although the Government had threatened drastic action to break the strike, the authorities are still leaving the door open for negotiations. It emerged yesterday that the TSC’s Teachers Service Remuneration Committee would be set up tomorrow. This is the reformed body that unions are supposed to negotiate with before proposals are submitted to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
Suspicious proposal
Knut NEC says the Government’s three-phase proposal is suspicious.
“Why is the Government not willing to pay at once yet the phases they are proposing fall within the same financial year. It is the responsibility to the Government to see how revenue collection can improve,” Sossion said.
“We are telling our teachers to stay put; the strike is far from over. This is a human rights crisis we are prepared to take to any level, including to the international level.”
Nyamu said the proposal did not address the plight of teachers. The officials dismissed allegations by unnamed officials the strike is politically instigated.
“Knut is a trade union, not a political party. It has never had any affiliations with any political group. Our strike is genuine and on course,” said Knut chairman. This is the longest teachers’ strike in the history of the country.
In 1997, teachers went a strike that lasted 12 days. The lowest paid teacher, in job group F, earns Sh13,750, while the highest paid, in job group R, earns Sh120,270.
