Kambi convenes talks with university unions, fail to hit deal on pay standoff

By Rawlings Otieno and Augustine Oduor

Nairobi, Kenya: Government officials were Thursday holed up with representatives of striking university workers in crisis talks that lasted for hours but failed to reach an agreement.

The standoff persisted as the strike that has crippled learning in public universities enters the third day.

Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi Thursday convened crisis talks with union officials at his Nairobi office, which went on till evening.

But officials of the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and Kenya Universities Staff Union (Kusu) reportedly stood their ground that the Sh3.9 billion meant to pay second phase of a negotiated salary agreement must be provided.

Diverted funds

Separately, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi acknowledged that some Vice Chancellors of public universities diverted part of the Sh3.9 billion to fund other projects instead of awarding workers the agreed pay increment.

Prof Kaimenyi said once investigations were completed, VCs who used the money for unintended purposes would be required to refund it and “appropriate action taken against them.”

But at the meeting with Kambi, union officials, who risk contempt proceedings against them because of pressing on with the strike in defiance to an Industrial Court order, reiterated their demand that universities’ managers must first withdraw the court case.

They said they would not compromise on their demand that the Inter-Public University Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) honour the pay agreement. An official of Uasu who attended the meeting said they stood their ground that the money in question must be paid in full before staff could resume work.

The official said the unions presented three demands to the Labour CS: withdrawal of the case, payment of all the money in contention and signing of a return to work formula.

Kambi is now expected to communicate the union’s demands to the VCs’ representatives so they can respond.

“The meeting lasted for hours but has not yielded much. We hope that at the end we will have at least made the first step to end the strike. Our demands are clear, withdraw the case, and then come to the negotiating table. We cannot negotiate with somebody who has our money and has taken us to court,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

Another official who attended the talks added: “The meeting was about presenting our demands to the Labour CS as an arbitrator. He will call the VCs and communicate the same, that’s when we can start negotiations on how to end the stalemate.”

In attendance were Uasu National Chairman Sammy Kubasu, his Secretary General Prof Muga K’Olale, Kusu Secretary General Dr Charles Mukhwaya and two other officials.

Labour Principal Secretary Ali Noor Ismail also attended the meeting.

At the time of going to press, the meeting was still on at the Labour ministry offices.

Kambi had called the meeting Thursday morning as the strike by lecturers and other non-academic staff that has paralysed learning in all the 31 public universities across the country entered Day Three Friday.

Addressing journalists during a press conference at Jogoo House prompted by the controversy stoked by the bungled laptops tender, Kaimenyi said the VCs must refund the monies they ‘misdirected’ to pay ineligible items that were not part of the negotiated deal.

“Those who spent money in projects that were not subject (to the allocation) must refund it and we shall investigate and take appropriate action,” said Prof Kaimenyi.

The VCs have said that Sh2.2 billion has not been spent, but the universities’ unions maintain the entire amount was spent.

Kaimenyi also asked university workers to obey the court order and resume work as the VCs and unions settle the pay dispute. He explained that the dispute had reached crisis level because the unions and the VCs did not agree on the payment schedules.

“After the salary award, the VCs had their own payment schedule and the unions also came up with their own schedule. This was the start of the dispute,” he said.

Pay schedule

He said that as a result, the universities management used a pay schedule that rewarded ineligible members who had not been factored in the 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

The CS said that only the first 15 job groups were eligible to benefit from the funds, yet staff in job group 16 was also paid.

“This means that VCs, their deputies and principals also got paid contrary to the agreement and this is what is being contested,” he said.

“For now no one wants to cede ground but we met with Labour Cabinet Secretary and agreed that the two teams must meet to agree on payment schedule to be used,” he added.

Kaimenyi said action should be taken against VC’s who will be found to have spent the money on plans not negotiated.

“Some universities used the cash to pay contracted staff, other used it to develop their campuses by constructing new buildings,’ he said.

Prof Kaimenyi also said that some ineligible universities may have benefited from a pay deal they were never a part of.

“By the time the money was being awarded some campuses were not created. During second tranche of Sh3.9 billion, they were paid yet they were not eligible,’ said the CS.

At the centre of the dispute is full payment of the second phase of the Sh7.8billion salary award that the lecturers negotiated for in 2012. The cash was to be paid in two phases. Half of the negotiated money was paid in December 2012. The remaining Sh3.9 billion is what is subject of the ongoing strike.

But the unions have rejected suggestions that the outstanding arrears are Sh2.2 billion and would shortchange them.

The amount will be insufficient to meet the 33.1 per cent increment of the basic salary and the 14.1 per cent increase in house allowance they had negotiated.

They say the Sh2.2 billion is only enough to honor 5.2 per cent increment of the basic salary and 4.3 per cent of the allowances.