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TSC and Kuppet file court deal formally ending strike
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) chief executive officer Nancy Macharia (centre) flanked by Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) secretary general Akelo Misori (left) and TSC chairman Dr Jamleck Muturi addresses the media at the TSC headquarters in Nairobi on September 2, 2024.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) have filed a consent in the Employment and Labour Relations Court, ending the teachers’ strike and agreeing to settle pending matters through bipartite negotiations.
The consent was filed on Wednesday, two days after the parties announced the end the industrial action by tutors that had begun on August 26.
The parties appeared before Justice Anna Ngibuini Mwaure, who adopted the consent as an order of the court.
Through the consent TSC and Kuppet also withdrew the suits and countersuits they had filed against each other.
The announcement to end the strike drew mixed reactions from teachers some of whom criticised their union leadership for striking a pact without signing a concrete deal.
However, according to Kuppet Secretary-General Akelo Misori, the consent is superior to a return-to-work formula since it is now an order of the court that must be enforced by both parties.
Speaking in Mombasa yesterday, he defended his decision to call off the strike saying TSC had addressed most of their grievances.
“We have a few leaders who are claiming they were not informed of the meeting resolutions, I was shocked by that since we have a channel of communication and the issues which led us to go on strike were addressed,” he said.
Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Secretary-General Francis Atwoli also defended Kuppet national leaders for calling off the strike, saying they acted within their mandate.
“Cotu was very much aware of the talks and those who are claiming Kuppet leaders, led by Secretary-General Akello Misori acted without their approval should respect decisions made on their behalf by their leaders. You cannot have a return-to-work formula and continue with the strike,” said Mr Atwoli.
The court document lists all the grievances raised by Kuppet before the union called for a nationwide strike, and their respective stages of resolution.
TSC is listed as the petitioner while Kuppet is the respondent and the Ministry of Labour an interested party. A glaring omission from the original list of demands by Kuppet is the confirmation to permanent terms for 46,000 junior school teachers who are employed on short-term contracts.
“The commission maintained that it lacked authority to provide a binding commitment since the funds for that purpose had not been provided to it by Parliament.
"We oppose the informalisation of the teaching service. The employment of fully qualified and registered teachers as interns is a bad labour practice which also goes against the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation on the Status of Teachers.
"We will take up the matter with President William Ruto once he comes back from his trip to China,” said Mr Misori.
Top on the list of grievances resolved is the implementation of Phase II of the 2021-2025 collective bargaining agreement.
Teachers received the pay increment at the end of August, which included the July arrears.
According to the document, TSC has remitted all statutory and third-party deductions from teachers’ salaries and started reviewing the career progression guidelines.
The commission has also restored funding of the teachers’ medical scheme. Although Kuppet had demanded immediate promotion of 130,000 teachers who it said had stagnated in the same job groups for long, they seem to have accepted the assertion by TSC that already 51,232 teachers have been promoted.
The commission committed to continue promoting more “as and when budgetary allocations are availed by Parliament”.
