The Teachers’ Service Commission’s (TSC) failure to deduct union dues from teachers’ salaries beginning the month of September in what is seen as a ploy to cripple the operations of the unions has been downplayed ahead of the elections slated for December, 2015.
Teachers unions, Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (KUPPE), have indicated that they will go on with the planned elections which seek to elect new leaders two months prior to the National General elections which will take place between February and April, 2016.
KNUT Treasurer John Matiang’i and Deputy Secretary General Hesbond Otieno revealed that the union has already paid for the venue and the materials needed for the mini-elections, allaying fears that the move by TSC has jeopardized the elections.
“We have already paid the Kasarani venue, prepared our reports and handed our printed ballot papers to the Labour ministry. All that is left is for the 2,000 delegates to converge,” Matiang’i as quoted by Sunday Nation.
The three positions to be filled by the election will be National Treasurer, Assistant National Treasurer and Deputy Secretary General.
The latest development comes after it emerged that KNUT and KUPPET were facing serious financial difficulties after they alleged that TSC had refused to deduct the said dues since September when teachers went on strike.
TSC is also accused of withholding teachers’ September salaries on grounds that they were on strike. This is contrary to a directive given by President Uhuru Kenyatta when he met union representatives at State House a fortnight ago to broker the deadlock that has crippled learning in public schools across the country.
Teachers walked out of the negotiating table after TSC failed to heed to the order by the president.
The squabbles between teachers and their employer can be traced way back to September, 2015, when the teachers downed their tools after TSC failed to obey a court order that awarded them a 50-60% pay hike.
Teachers embarked on a month-long strike which turned out to be the longest in the history of the country, only to return to work after the same court ordered them to do so as negotiations with the government commenced for 90 days.
Even though the 50-60% hike has since been quashed by the Court of Appeal on grounds that the Industrial Court had no jurisdiction to make such a ruling, wrangles between teachers and their employer are far from over, and the most affected party in this case are the students.
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