Differences emerging from a meeting by a section of Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) officials and President Uhuru Kenyatta has continued to threaten the unity of the giant teacher’s body.
The disagreements have gone beyond the National Steering Committee compelling KNUT to call a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, on Tuesday, November 17, to iron out the issues that seem to cause a rift between the union chairman Mudzo Nzili and secretary general Wilson Sosssion.
“There are a lot of issues that are lined up for discussion but top is the recent deal that was brokered by President Kenyatta that has seen cracks emerge among union officials who are of different opinions especially on whether to start fresh negotiations with TSC,”a NEC member as quoted by The Standard on November 16.
The meeting held at State House, in the absence of Sossion, resolved that Teachers Service Commission (TSC) would pay teachers their withheld September salaries and both parties were to withdraw all pay cases pending in court.
Uhuru also ordered TSC to initiate negotiations with teachers on a four year Collective Bargaining Agreement thus the cause of the divergent opinions among KNUT officials.
Nzili and his team accepted the directive but Sossion objected it saying they would only negotiate on the formula of implementing the 50-60% increment on basic salary which wasawarded by the Employment and Labour Relations court in June.
The award was later quashed by the Court of Appeal with judges saying Justice Nduma Nderi lacked jurisdiction to give such directives, failed to consider Salaries and also Remuneration Commission’s advice.
Sossion said that teachers had gone through a long judicial process and taking them back to the negotiating table and beginning from zero was untenable.
However, those who attended the meeting and accepted the deal said the decision was informed by the fact that the government was determined to kill teachers’ unions by ensuring non-deduction and submission of union dues.
KNUT Assistant Secretary General Hesbon Otieno said the move was a survival tactic as the union had gone for four months without the dues and most its branch offices were closing down.
All eyes will now be on the 28-member NEC, the union’s top policy organ, as it deliberates on the matter. Nzili, Sossion and six other top national officials are also members of the council.
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