TSC, teachers must consult

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) is conducting a job evaluation exercise for teachers. The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) have always insisted that SRC has no mandate at all to determine their salaries.

At some point, the teachers unions agreed to a job evaluation on condition that this would not affect their current salary review, which was reached under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, little progress has been made in assuring teachers that they are not being deliberately sidelined, especially after they were denied the 50-60 per cent salary increase that they were awarded by the Industrial Court.

Even as the SRC contracts audit firm PriceWaterhousecCoopers to carry out a countrywide job evaluation for teachers, the exercise must be carried out in an environment of mutual agreement and trust to avoid the inevitable grandstanding when one party is overlooked. Since it is the welfare of teachers under discussion, natural justice demands that they have their representatives at the round table. The unions, on the hand, must approach the issue with an open mind.