The turmoil at the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) illustrates governance challenges confronting the labour movement.
Until recently, Knut has been a formidable union with a stellar history of aggressive agitation and representation of teachers.
Established in 1957 at the height of the clamour for independence, the union was part of the wider labour, civil society and political establishment that catalysed the collapse of colonial rule and paved the way for self-rule by Africans.
But the union has suffered serious beating in recent times orchestrated by a recalcitrant employer, Teachers Service Commission (TSC), that thrives on selective interpretation and application of court rulings.
On the other hand, the union is a victim of its own tactlessness, self-indulgent leadership and obsession with street theatrics at the expense of reason and intellectual discourse.
Our concern is that the stalemate arising from, one, leadership wrangles within the union itself and, two, bitter combat with the TSC, is a threat to peace and stability in the education sector.
First, the tussle with the TSC is causing pain to teachers. The employer has refused to promote and improve teachers’ salaries and benefits.
In itself, that is unsettling because the TSC refused to read the law properly and interpret the court ruling that stopped implementation of its new formula of promoting teachers.
Also, it has mischievously refused to deduct and remit agency fees to the union, contrary to labour laws.
Secondly, arising from the financial woes, teachers lose motivation and drive to deliver and, eventually, that affects quality of teaching and learning.
A disillusioned teaching force is a veritable threat to quality and standards of education and the economy.
And that all this is coming on the eve of school reopening for the third term when candidates prepare for national examinations is quite atrocious.
The role of a union is to represent workers’ interests and, in the course of doing so, has to fight with the employer.
However, Knut under Wilson Sossion has been uncharacteristically abrasive, fighting everything and everyone, even when unnecessary.
Often, the union’s leader has cast the image of a lone ranger and a rebel without a cause. That has sullied the name of the union and diminished its public goodwill.
Yesterday’s ugly sight of some officials storming the union’s headquarters in Nairobi was the height of it all.
The Knut is walking a dangerous path due to a combination of internal and extraneous factors and, unless it does self-introspection, rediscovers itself and reorganises its leadership, it is destined for destruction. That must be avoided.
A strong union is good for the teachers, education sector and the country at large. The unrelenting contestation between Knut and TSC must stop. We need tranquillity in the education sector.
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