Teacher Service Commission’s (TSC) plan to cut ties with Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) was on Tuesday halted by a Nairobi court.
Labour court Judge Maureen Onyango suspended the termination notice until the case is heard and determined.
Justice Onyango also ordered that the respondents; Nancy Macharia and TSC file responses to preliminary objections within seven days from the date of service.
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“That in the meantime, the notice of termination ins suspended pending hearing and determination of the preliminary objection,” she ordered.
The case will be heard on 11 December.
In a termination notice issued on November 4, the commission argued that the teachers’ union did not have the simple majority of unionisable employees under the employment of the Commission.
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“Take notice that in view of Section 54 of the Labour Relations Act, the commission has made the requisite application to the National Labour Board,” the notice read in part.
According to the Labour Act, for a union to be recognized by the commission, it must have 50 per cent plus one of all the teachers in the commission’s register.
Thus far, the country has 318,000 teachers in both public and primary schools and therefore Knut needs to have at least 159,000 members.
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But according to the commission’s latest register, Knut, which mostly represents primary school teachers, has only 115,000 members, falling short of the 50 plus one threshold.
On Monday, KNUT moved to court in a bid to win back more than 86,000 teachers who exited following escalated fights with TSC.
The 11-member National Steering Committee, led by Secretary-General Wilson Sossion, who was deregistered as a teacher, seeks to win back it’s members.
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