Why teachers shouldn't celebrate Sh50 billion pay increase proposal yet

Salaries and Remuneration Commission Chair Sarah Serem.

Nairobi, Kenya: A flurry of correspondence between the teachers' employer and the salaries commission seen by The Standard highlights the difficult path ahead for talks on higher pay for tutors.

Letters exchanged between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) point to a protracted battle and behind-the-scenes intrigues in the lead-up to Tuesday's meeting between the Government and teachers' unions.

TSC was expected to table a Sh50 billion counter-proposal to award teachers between 50 and 60 per cent basic pay increment. The counter-proposal, allowances included, added up to Sh118 billion annually, but that was never to be.

Delicate talks

Apparently, opposition from SRC, which cited the ballooning public wage bill, is among the hurdles that the delicate talks between Government and officials of Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) face.

In one of its letters to the teachers' employer, SRC says the items proposed by the TSC had already been harmonised with other public sector employees and warns against subjecting them to negotiations.

The terse advisory letter by the Sarah Serem-led commission also wants the teachers employer to do thorough homework before presenting any proposals to the teachers' unions.

Sources familiar with the teachers' pay talks said the SRC advice is the reason the teachers' employer did not officially present the proposal to the two unions.

However, fresh details indicate that Knut and Kuppet were secretly given the proposals to study ahead of the Tuesday meeting.

"The two unions were each given a copy and that is why they left the meeting without their usual threats of strike. They will then see how to make compromises based on the presented proposals," said a unionist.

Knut and Kuppet officials Wednesday denied knowledge of proposals by Government, and were holed up in meetings the whole day.

TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni, speaking to The Standard after the Tuesday meeting, said no proposal had been prepared or even presented to the two unions.

But even as these details emerged, the SRC could be the stumbling block in the teachers' pay negotiations.

"The TSC should demonstrate budgetary provision for the proposed remuneration structure before seeking advice from the SRC," reads the letter dated September 26, 2014, and signed by Anne Gitau, the SRC acting commission secretary. It is copied to National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia and Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi.

The Standard has established the content of this letter prompted an advance meeting, on Monday, between the TSC and the SRC before the Tuesday meeting with the two unions.

The Government side also held another early morning meeting before calling Knut and Kuppet officials for the 11am Tuesday meeting.

Letters seen by The Standard reveal the TSC had frantically made efforts to consult with the SRC since 2012.

Ms Gitau said SRC is already conducting a study on payment of allowances payable in the public service to inform any future reviews.

This means that the over 288,000 teachers may wait longer to know their salary and allowances adjustments.

It also means the two teachers' unions are headed for major challenges in negotiating for their members' pay.

The Standard Wednesday exclusively published the proposed secret offer by the State to teachers.

The Sh50 billion salary proposal was to be implemented from July next year if SRC was in agreement.