Magoha moves to avert dons strike

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha.

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has opened talks with union leaders to avert a looming university lecturers' strike.

Prof Magoha said he met with two groups yesterday morning and had positive engagements.

“I met two groups this morning and I get this feeling that a great majority of dons do not want to go on strike,” Magoha said.

He spoke yesterday during the launch of the 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school policy for 2020.

Lecturers had threatened to go on strike from next week over an unfulfilled 2017/2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement with Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu), which would have seen them get a pay rise totalling Sh8.8 billion.

Magoha, however, noted that the government would not be forced by a strike to negotiate as that would only cause a blockage to the process.

“We shall not negotiate with the gun at the back of our heads. The moment they go on strike they will have put the first bottleneck to that process,” he said.

Uasu had called a nationwide lecturers' strike from January 20.