The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) says it is currently analysing pay increase proposals from Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) with a view to formulating its counter offer.
TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia said the move is meant to ensure that the commission concludes all collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in the teaching service by the end of 2020.
Kuppet and TSC signed the 2017-2021 CBA in October 2016 and implementation started on July 1, 2017 and will come to an end on June 30, 2021.
“The commission has successfully implemented three out of the four phases of the agreement,” said Mrs Macharia in a statement.
Last month, the union and the commission held a joint retreat to lay grounds for the engagement of the 2021-2025 CBA.
Mrs Macharia said apart from concluding the CBAs, the commission’s focus will be on enhancing automation of services and hosting the second teachers’ conference among others.
However, the fate of talks with Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) on a new CBA still remains unclear.
“In its engagement with the unions, TSC operates strictly within the legal provisions that guide its relationship with teacher unions and other stakeholders. The commission will engage with all its social partners who have met the legal threshold for such engagement,” said Mrs Macharia.
Kuppet wants secondary teacher II, secondary UT teacher and primary special needs education teacher who fall under Grade C2 and who currently earn Sh34,955 to get a minimum salary of Sh59,425 while those earning Sh43,694 to be paid a basic salary of Sh74,280.
The union also want chief principals and senior principals currently earning Sh118,242 to be paid Sh153,715 while those earning Sh141,891 should have their pay increased to Sh184,458.
In the proposal, Kuppet which now has 120,000 members, also want a commuter allowance of between Sh8,500 and Sh20,000 while leave allowance should be between Sh43,694 and Sh141, 891. At the moment teachers get between Sh6,000 and 10,000 as leave allowance.
Kuppet also wants a house allowance of between Sh16,500 and Sh45,000 while town allowance for Nairobi and county headquarters should be between Sh4,000 and Sh8,000.
The union wants a hardship allowance of between Sh16,350 and Sh57,150. At the moment, hardship allowance is between Sh10,900 and Sh38,100.
The teachers also want an overtime pay of between Sh500 to 1,300 per hour.
The union also wants commuter allowance increment of between 30 per cent and 70 per cent of the current pay and a special allowance of Sh15,000 per month for teachers in special schools.
Knut has also reached out to the commission for a meeting in order to iron out issues between them.
Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion also wants TSC to reinstate the over 80,000 teachers who were offloaded from the union, noting that failure to deduct dues has starved the union, crippling its operations completely.
“We could not hold the 62nd annual delegates conference for lack of funds. This is a clear indication of a wide and well-choreographed strategy to kill Knut,” he said.
Mr Sossion further noted that the union is committed to working with the government, in particular TSC in negotiating the terms and conditions of service for teachers for the purpose of improving teaching standards and performance.
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