How State bungled teachers' salary talks

Teachers celebrate along Nairobi streets after the Supreme Court ruled in their favour in a protracted pay dispute. [PHOTO: GEORGE NJUNGE/STANDARD]

When news that the government had been ordered to increase teacher’s pay by 50 to 60 per cent emerged, President Uhuru Kenyatta was holding his routine meetings at State House.

The Ministries of Labour and Education officials were agonising when and how to break the news to the President given the huge budgetary implications the ruling would impose on his administration.

What they did not know, however, sources at State House told The Standard on Saturday, was the fact that Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai had already communicated the message to the President.

An agitated Kenyatta would later hold separate meetings with various stakeholders within government including the leadership of the Parliamentary Committee on Education.

“The President was annoyed because the demand by teachers is such a big interruption to other priority programmes the government was planning to execute this financial year. Worse still, the government does not have enough money to finance all priority development agenda,” a source said.

As the discussions ensued, it was becoming apparently clear that ministries of Education, Labour and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) were notably being cornered by the teachers’ unions.

It emerged that the proposal to have teachers in the lowest carder bagging 15 per cent and the highest in the ranking getting 12.5 per cent over a period of four years allegedly emanated from teachers’ employer in 2014. On September 9, 2014, TSC was in closed door meeting with the teachers’ unions Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers and Kenya National Union of Teachers and it allegedly mooted an offer that would have settled the decade long pay dispute.

The commission placed the offer in a document titled ‘working document’ which set out proposals for the enhancement of teachers’ remuneration which included an increment on basic salary of between 50 per cent and 60 per cent.

However, the unions made a counter offer 300 per cent increment but lowered it to 100 per cent to 150 per cent but the employer declined the same and noted that it would have tapped out Government’s funds as the demands would have been Sh725 billion annually against a revenue base of Sh900 billion.

Self incriminating

There was no agreement between the parties by the close of December 2014 which resulted in a countrywide strike and subsequently a legal battle between the commission and the unions. When the Labour Court read its verdict, it noted that TSC admitted that it had tabled the working document consultative meeting but at the same time denied that it comprised a counter offer to the demands of the unions.

The Lydia Nzomo-led commission however maintained that, it was merely a working document for the purpose of obtaining advice from Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

TSC, SRC and AG have attempted repudiate the proposal it tabled at the negotiations meeting held but the court held that there was such a deal in place. “The evidence before Court points to the contrary that indeed TSC made an offer to the Unions of a basic salary increase of between 50 – 60 percent for a period of four years,” Justice Nduma Nderi noted in his judgement which is now a subject before the Court of Appeal.

It also emerged that the commission had also written a letter to the Treasury indicating that it was intending to increase its employees’ salaries.  The court factored in all this as it made its decision.

“....It is not in dispute a good number of proposals made by TSC on allowances and benefits were approved upon advice by SRC by the National Treasury ...” Justice Nderi noted.

The judgement has been appealed though TSC was ordered to pay teachers as it argues its case. The case will come up for hearing on September 22.