CS Amina calls for crisis meeting as lecturers strike continues

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has summoned council chairmen of all 31 public universities and colleges for a crisis meeting today over the ongoing lecturers' strike.

Through University Education Principal Secretary Japhet Ntiba, Amina said the meeting would discuss the best way to handle the strike, which has paralysed learning in some of the universities.

But lecturers have vowed to continue with their boycott.

“The strike has persisted even after a court order that the strike is unprotected,” said the invitation letters signed by Prof Ntiba.

He said the meeting, scheduled for 2pm, would seek the best way to restore normalcy to the institutions.

Announced crackdown

The meeting comes just two days after the Inter Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) announced a crackdown on university staff who fail to report back to work today.

The Standard established that starting today, public universities will implement disciplinary measures against workers who fail to resume duty, including firing.

Also targeted are union leaders, who are accused of misleading workers to disobey court orders, sources said.

Leaders of the University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and the Kenya University Staff Union (Kusu) may be sent home.

University chapter leaders of the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudheiha) may also be targeted.

The IPUCCF on Saturday ordered vice chancellors to crack the whip.

Stern action

“IPUCCF urges the management of public universities to take stern action on staff in their respective institutions who do not report to duty on Monday, April 9, as directed by court,” said Paul Kanyari, the IPUCCF chairman.

In a statement, Prof Kanyari said learning must resume today.

“All staff must continue discharging their duties diligently to ensure harmonious industrial relations in public universities,” he said.

At the centre of the dispute is the negotiation and signing of the 2017-2021 collective bargaining agreement.

The IPUCCF members said so far, two court orders had been issued – on March 16 and April 6 – and cautioned staff against disobeying them.

Meanwhile, the Government has urged lecturers to drop their hard-line stance and resume work following last Friday's court ruling declaring the job boycott unprotected.

Employment and Labour Relations Court judge Onesmus Makau on Friday declared the strike illegal and ordered all lecturers to report to work from today and the negotiations to begin.

The lecturers have been out of lecture halls since March 1, as they demanded a counter-proposal from the State for the 2017-2021 CBA.

However, lecturers’ unions led by Uasu vowed to continue with the strike after filing an appeal, which Secretary General Constantine Wasonga said would be heard today.

Mr Wasonga advised Uasu members to ignore the court directive until they received communication from his office.