Knut, Kuppet split over court order to end school strike

By Augustine Oduor and Vitalis Kimutai

Nairobi, Kenya: Teachers defied an Industrial Court order to resume work and pressed on with the strike Tuesday as authorities announced tough measures to end the boycott.

The teachers heeded a call by officials of the giant Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), with more than 250,000 members to ignore the order by the Industrial Court to go back to class.

But officials of Kuppet, with a membership of 47,000 and whose members have been on strike for the third week, announced the suspension of the strike for two weeks to facilitate negotiations with Government.

Talks between the unions and State representatives are scheduled Wednesday. Knut has, however, vowed to boycott the negotiations.

Tuesday, defi ant teachers vowed not to relent on the industrial action until their grievances are addressed, a day after authorities warned striking teachers they would face “the full force of the law” for contempt of court.

But the Government moved to enforce the Industrial Court order that instructed all teachers to resume work and the unions to return to the negotiating table.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni instructed all school heads to take morning and evening roll calls and to forward the names of absentees to its County Directors of Education for disciplinary action.

“Heads of institutions, their deputies and senior teachers are expected to be in schools at all times to ensure safety of learners and school property,” said Lengoiboni.

The teachers’ employer also warned of punitive action against teachers who engage in “unprofessional conduct” such as non-attendance of classes and disruption of learning.

Rule of law

But Knut national chairman Wilson Sossion said the TSC directive to head teachers is uncalled for.

“They will be ashamed because no teacher will go to class. They should use proper channel of engagement and not threats,” he said.

Kuppet’s National Governing Council (NGC) endorsed the suspension of the strike.

“We are Wednesday suspending the strike which started on June 19 in line with the directive by the Industrial Court as we believe in the rule of law,” said Akello Misori, the union’s secretary general.

Kuppet’s national chairman Omboko Milemba, organising secretary Paul Maingi, Treasurer Mwethi Njenga and other national officials and national governing council members flanked Misori.

He said they were ready for the consultative meeting to be held Wednesday with the Government at the TSC headquarters.

“We are appealing to our members to report to their workstations on Wednesday morning and resume normal duties as we negotiate with the Government and await further directives after the July 15 deadline set by the court,” Misori stated.

Milemba said, “We respect the rule of law and we want to ensure that any engagement with the Government is backed by the laws of the land,”

But Sossion and Knut secretary general Mudzo Nzili said teachers would not resume work unless their demands are met.

Flanked by national treasurer Albanus Mutisya and Wycliff Omucheyi, the officials said the strike will proceed until some “sense of reason prevails on the side of government.”

However, the Government was all set for talks eager to end the strike that has crippled learning in public primary and secondary schools.

Tuesday, Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi gave out a schedule of talks between the Government and the unions.

Reconciliation meetings

Talks between Knut and TSC are scheduled at 10am at NSSF Building. Kambi will chair the meeting at his offices.

Thereafter negotiations between Kuppet and TSC will follow at 2.30pm at the same venue.

Other parties invited to the talks include National Treasury, Ministry of Education, Salaries and Remuneration Commission and Ministry of Devolution and Planning.

“After the introductory meetings, structured joint conciliation meetings will follow to address issues raised by the teachers,” said a statement released by Kambi last evening.

Tuesday, teachers staged street protests in parts of the country. In Meru, angry teachers burnt the effigy of Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi during a demonstration in Maua Town.

The striking teachers vowed not to relent until the Government pays allowances totaling Sh47 billion negotiated under a contested 1997 deal.

In Nairobi, Knut sought to defend the legitimacy of the 1997 legal notice detailing a raft of allowances after Government argued their demands had no basis citing, an amendment in 2003.

Knut recalled former Secretary General Francis Nganga to disown the 2003 amendment reportedly agreed to during his tenure.

“We never signed any document on allowances. What we signed were several agreements aimed at phasing out payment of salaries as were negotiated in 1997,” said Nganga.

He said the contentious legal notice was “sneaked in” to amend the allowances while Knut officials were still negotiating payment of the salaries.

“The rest is propaganda. There is nowhere we touched on allowances,’ he said.

Peter Mutulu, who was the national treasurer at that time, accompanied Nganga.

Sossion said the court order is not enforceable at all and noted that teachers will not offer free services to the Government.

Lengoiboni warned that any teacher who fails to respect the court order would face the consequences as per the TS code of regulations.

Addressing the press Tuesday, Knut top leadership said the union would not be pushed to the negotiating table to discuss the old agreements.

“We will not be dragged into negotiating what we had already negotiated in 1997,” said Nzili.

Teachers’ rights

The Public Service Trade Union of Kenya (Pusetu) backed Knut and asked the State to stop using courts to frustrate the rights of teachers.

“We demand due diligence from employers including government to respect agreed and signed agreements,” said Pusetu acting secretary general Dr Charles Mukhwaya.

He said civil servants would join the strike anytime now to show the Government the extent of their support to teachers.

“We resolved that after the lapse of seven days we shall call for a strike for all civil servants,” he said.