Why lecturers want universities shut down

Universities Academic Staff Union Secretary General Constantine Wesonga during a past press conference. [File, Standard] Learning in public universities is at risk of being paralysed after some 30,000 university staff issued a seven-day strike notice. This potentially would lead to a complete shutdown of the 38 public universities due to delays in conclusion of their new pay deal. In a notice seen by The Standard, the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) announced that the strike would begin on September 18 if negotiations for the 2021-2025 national Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) are not concluded by then. "UASU hereby issues a seven-day strike notice over failure to negotiate, conclude, register and implement the 2021-2025 national Collective Bargaining Agreement as per the law," the notice dated September 11 reads. The shutdown comes just two weeks after the start of the new university academic calendar and admission of new students. It will also mark a fresh round of disruption in the education sector that has taken a hit in the recent past with the most recent disruptions being the teachers strike, school fires and rampage. In a joint statement, the university workers accused the university management and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), of delaying the negotiations for the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The Standard has established that the new pay deal ought to have taken effect in 2023 and extended to 2024 when the CBA expires. However, the union is protesting the proposal by government only to have the pay increment for one year in 2024. Instead, Constantine Wasonga, UASU Secretary General said they want the new pay be backdated to 2023. "There will be no teaching or any activity in the said institutions with effect from the expiry of the strike notice," Wasonga said during a press briefing in Nairobi. The union also rejects pay increase of seven percent offered by the SRC, terming it insignificant. Also joining the strike will be members of the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) which covers non-teaching staff members such as laboratory technicians and librarians. The two unions are complaining over what they term as unfair treatment of workers noting that the government has adjusted pay for other workers in the public service but excluded the university staff. The unions say they fronted their proposal for a pay increase in September 2020 but the university leadership has been reluctant in commencing the negotiations to reach an agreement. They say that their workers have been disadvantaged by the weakening of the shilling that reduced their purchasing power thus impoverishing the lives of the university workers. "This selective justice amounts to government's overt and covert acts of impunity violating worker's constitutional right to fair remuneration," Charles Mukwaya, the KUSU secretary general said. Other demands by the union include the harmonisation of the retirement age and allowances across all universities. Wasonga says the retirement age varies from 60 to 79 in various institutions. In their proposal, they want the retirement harmonised to 75 years, however, an academic staff may chose to retire voluntarily once they attain 50 years. He further decried that the housing allowance for dons has not been reviewed since 2008. In their proposal, they want the housing allowance be increased with between Sh20,000 for the lowest earning lecturer and Sh40,000 for full professors from Sh73,715 to 116,028.

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