You have seven days to act: UASU threatens strike over lecturers' pay

 UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga. [File, Standard]

The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) has issued a seven-day strike notice, with lecturers set to begin a nationwide strike at midnight on Friday, October 2, 2026.

According to UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga, the decision follows the failure by university councils, the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury to honour the Return-to-Work Formula signed on November 5, 2025.

The union also accused the government of failing to provide a financial counter-proposal for the 2025-2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

“While other employees in the public education sector concluded their 2025-2029 CBAs last year, lecturers in public universities have been abandoned,” UASU said.

The union said the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) informed university-sector unions on Monday, September 21, that neither the Ministry of Education nor the National Treasury had provided a written commitment that funding for public university CBAs would come through the National Exchequer.

According to UASU, SRC said it could therefore not issue the constitutional advice required to facilitate financial counter-proposals to the unions.

“This disclosure by SRC confirms that the negotiations held at Machakos University since last year have been an exercise in futility. The Government knew, all along, that the National Treasury had not issued the conventional funding commitment under the hand of the Principal Secretary, National Treasury,” the union said.

UASU said the disclosure raised concerns about the funding of lecturers’ salaries, claiming the government’s position appeared to be that public university lecturers could be funded from student fees and market-based sources.

“Even more disturbing is SRC’s disclosure that the Government’s position appears to be that funding for public university lecturers may be drawn from student fees and market-based funding. This is an attempt to redesignate academic staff as employees outside the category of public officers,” the union said.

The union argued that academic staff in public universities are public officers whose remuneration should be secured from the National Exchequer.

“We resist any attempt to strip lecturers of their public officer status through back-door mechanisms. The Constitution defines a public office as one whose remuneration and benefits are payable directly from the Consolidated Fund or from money provided by Parliament. The remuneration of public university academic staff must therefore be secured from the National Exchequer, as required by the Constitution,” the union said.

UASU is now demanding the conclusion and implementation of the 2025-2029 CBA, as well as a government commitment to fund the agreement through the National Exchequer.

It also wants the Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, 2026, currently before Parliament, to safeguard the remuneration of academic staff through funding from the Exchequer.

The union further demands participation in the development of human resource instruments for public universities, which are currently being developed by the Public Service Commission, to ensure the rights of academic staff are protected.