Students from majority of public universities expected to report back

Union organizing Secretary Ernest Wayaya(centre) and other KUSU leaders at a Nakuru Hotel on March 18, 2018. The union faulted their employer for failing to table a counter proposal to end the industrial strike. :PHOTO Harun Wathari

Lecturers have vowed to continue with their strike.

This comes in the wake of a court order issued on Friday directing the lecturers to call off the strike and report back to work by today and the Government to give its counter-offer within thirty days.

Calling upon its members to intensify the strike across all public universities, the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) said it is yet to be served with the court orders.

“We have not been served with any court orders and are not aware of any. We therefore direct KUSU members to stay the course by up-scaling, intensifying and escalating the strike until we cause total paralysis on all services in these institutions,” said KUSU treasurer James Makori.

The dons accused the Inter Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) of failing to present a counter proposal for their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Addressing the press in Nakuru, KUSU officials led by the Deputy Secretary General Aggrey Osogo the strike will go on until a pay offer is made

“The union will not waver in its pursuit for the negotiation, signing and implementation of the CBA. IPUCCF has neither tabled a counter proposal nor made any efforts to solve the current crisis,” said Mr Osogo.

PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

The unionists accused universities of attempting to weaken the strike through intimidation.

“Since 2006 CBA negotiations in public universities have been associated with misrepresentation and nefarious schemes to discriminate and disenfranchise the staff. We condemn the use of courts by the employer to drive a wedge between us,” said Mr Osogo.

Students from majority of the public universities are expected to start reporting back today after a break.

But KUSU Organising Secretary Ernest Wayaya advised the students to stay away from the institutions.

“Let students stay at home rather than spend funds and time in paralysed institutions. They should understand that apart from fighting for our rights we are fighting for the next generation of lecturers,” said Mr Wayaya.

He accused university administrators of plunging the the country's higher education into a crisis.

“It has become a tradition that only strikes put sense in the minds of people expected to address demands made by employees,” said Wayaya.