Teachers’ Strike to Start Monday as Talks with Gov’t End in Disarray

The talks between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and teachers’ unions Thursday ended in disarray after the unions rejected the offer by the employer.

Following the impasse, officials of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) say the strike scheduled to commence on Monday August 26 is still on.

During the talks held at the Kenya School of Government in Lower Kabete, the TSC offered to implement Phase II of the 2021 – 2025 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) but failed to meet the other demands of the unions.

The TSC invited the unions to the forestall the strike.

However, the teachers argue that the CBA was already in force.

This is likely to affect the start of the third term.

President William Ruto Friday directed Treasury to open talks with teachers and lecturers’ unions and avert looming strikes in the education sector.

Ruto told the Treasury, Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) and the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) to meet and iron out pending issues that have led to issuing of strike notices.

KNUT and Kuppet have issued strike notices to push for the implementation of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement, while UASU has issued a notice for work boycott over delayed salaries.

“Treasury, TSC and the teaching fraternity should sit together and look at the possibility of ensuring that we implement our commitment as government and thus avoid unnecessary industrial action and interruption in our learning institutions,” Ruto said.