We have no money to meet teachers’ pay demands, says Treasury CS Henry Rotich

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has said no additional funds will be set aside for teachers' pay rise. (Photo:File/Standard)

A potential clash between the government and unions is looming after it emerged that the Treasury had ruled out raising teachers’ salaries.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich wrote to the Education ministry and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) confirming that additional funds would not be set aside to cater for any pay increase — at least in the current financial year ending June 2015. The unions have been demanding a 150 per cent pay rise for members.

“We are in the process of implementing the Budget for the financial year 2014/15, and there are no additional resources to accommodate salary adjustments,” Mr Rotich said in a letter dated October 24, but which only reached targeted offices recently.

The letter was addressed to Education Cabinet Secretary Joseph Kaimenyi and copied to TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni.

In the letter, Mr Rotich further appears to have dashed hopes of a much bigger salary deal for TSC’s 288,000 teachers even in the future, saying that any future pay review should be seen in the context of budget planning. He said: “Consideration of any reviews should be undertaken in the context of the medium term budgeting cycle to ensure fiscal sustainability of the wage bill.”

Mr Rotich said the basic salaries for teachers had been harmonised with those of the civil service.

“Reviews will be undertaken across the board in the context of the advice from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC),” he said.

Even then, Mr Rotich said, such reviews would be based on principles of equity, fairness, productivity and fiscal sustainability of the public service wage bill.

On the issue of allowances, Mr Rotich said the TSC had discussed the matter with teachers. But he said the commission may explore how the issue of allowances is dealt with by other countries.

Proposals on the table

Any arising proposals should be subjected to the ongoing discussions that would inform the preparation of the budget for the 2015/2016 financial year.

Mr Rotich also ruled that all other allowances would be reviewed based on the advice of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

The commission led by Sarah Serem had in September written a letter to the TSC and Treasury giving advice on the allowances.

The SRC came up with a new structure of paying allowances which may be released this week. It is expected that some allowances will be abolished and some increased for some public servants as part of the harmonisation of civil servants pay.

But the SRC decision will not affect the basic pay, whose increments have been frozen, including that for teachers.

Mr Rotich’s order caught the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) by surprise, with Secretary General Wilson Sossion saying the letter “is out of order”.

“Does it mean all these meetings we have been having are useless?” Mr Sossion asked?

“You cannot have a collective bargaining agreement without basic salary being a component of discussions,” he said.

Mr Sossion said the unions had held many meetings with the TSC over a new CBA and it would be a total contradiction that the commission had information from Mr Rotich, which was not shared with the negotiators.

“There is no way the government can go ahead and convene the CBA meetings yet it was aware basic salary was not part of the issues of discussion,” he said.

Mr Sossion said the team held a meeting on Thursday last week and was expecting another on this Wednesday at which the government team is expected to table a counter offer.

The two unions have had six meetings at TSC headquarters, but the teachers’ employer has not made any counter-offers to the demands by the unions which now want an increase of around 150 per cent, down from 300 per cent.

Knut and Kuppet also want commuter allowances for teachers to match those earned by civil servants at 10 per cent of teachers’ basic pay.

The unions also came down from their push for responsibility allowances by some five percentage points.

The Government withdrew a Sh50 billion offer tabled after protests by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Although Mr Sossion was unaware of the Treasury letter, he had recently said that the unions and the TSC had resolved that the matter of allowances be shelved until discussions on basic pay are complete.

Mr Lengoiboni was also quoted saying the talks were going on well and that a solution should be found soon.

“We have been going on with meetings and hope to reach a solution to the issues raised,” said Lengoiboni.

On Friday, Mr Sossion said the union would continue pushing for basic salary discussions before going into allowances.

“Basic salary is the main thing we want,” he said, adding teachers were remaining hopeful of a deal.

Recently, the TSC appeared to go slow on their salaries demand, insisting that the discussions had progressed, citing the offer for comprehensive medical cover for all the teachers.

Mr Lengoiboni said Knut and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers were briefed on the insurance cover.

Recently, Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori said the pay talks had failed and that “TSC is taking teachers for a ride”. “We are not fools to go round and round on issues without a solution,” Mr Misori said.