Teachers threaten to go on strike over salaries

By Augustine Oduor

Teachers have accused the Government of applying double standards in effecting salary reviews and threatened to call a nationwide strike.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) on Wednesday termed the Government’s move to award civil servants salary increments as an abuse to teachers.

The union said they have been provoked beyond repair and noted that all teachers are being mobilised to down their tools by start of next month.

“We take the move by Public Service minister Dalmas Otieno as a deliberate move to derail the course of teachers.

It is grossly immoral for the Government to mess up with teachers to that level,” said Knut national chairman Wilson Sossion.

Civil servants

Dalmas announced early this week that the Treasury has released Sh6.8 billion to cater for new salaries for civil servants this month.

He said the increment will range from between 12 per cent and 22 per cent and is set to benefit 133,322 civil servants and 1,577 officers of the National Youth Service.

Mr Sossion said Knut signed a 1997 salary review agreement that has not been honoured to date.

“We had intensive and very frank negotiations between government as was directed by the then president. It has not been honoured but they consider people who did not even ask for it,” he said.

Under the agreement, school principals and primary heads should be awarded half of their basic salary towards responsibility allowances.

Deputy school principals and their primary counterparts should have an additional 40 per cent of their basic salary awarded towards responsibility allowances.

Senior teachers and heads of department will be awarded 30 per cent of their salaries to cater for their responsibility allowances.

This means that in addition to the 300 per cent salary increase they are pushing for, a P1 teacher whose entry salary is Sh13,750 should earn Sh74,250.

A senior secondary school principal whose entry salary is Sh94,235 should earn Sh508,869 under the same arrangement.

In a statement to newsrooms, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers Secretary General Akelo Misori said teachers allied to his union are set to go on strike following the Government’s move.

He said the union’s national chairman is already conducting grassroots mobilisation for a successful strike.