Unions, Teachers Service Commission maintain hardline stances on pay

Standard Eight pupils at Arya Primary School in Kisumu study on their own on the first day of third term as teachers threaten to strike over pay rise row. [Photo: COLLINS ODUOR/Standard]

Teachers boycotted classes on a day the Government and the unions maintained their hardline positions on the disputed 50-60 per cent salary increment.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was preparing to return to the Supreme Court for a review of the orders granting the award, while the union lawyers vowed to press contempt of court proceedings against TSC bosses for failing to effect the pay hike.

As the mind games raged on, it was a day of tension and anxiety for parents and their children, as they did not know whether learners should go to school or remain at home until the situation is resolved.

Some parents had heeded the repeated warnings by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and kept their children at home as they awaited the outcome of the salary row.

Knut and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (Kuppet) that had called for a strike to coincide with schools' opening, yesterday declined to respond to the charge by TSC that they have not issued a strike notice as required by law before industrial action.

TSC had claimed that the planned countrywide strike by an estimated 288,000 teachers was not legal, as they had not issued a strike notice as required by the labour-relations laws.

When contacted to clarify whether they have issued a strike notice or not, Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori declined to comment.

Initially, Kuppet had indicated that it would issue a statement to react to TSC's claim on the strike notice but this did not materialise.

"We shall not comment on that issue until the ultimatum we have given to TSC to effect our salary increase has lapsed. After that, we shall communicate to our members and the public," he told The Standard on telephone.

Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion was not available to comment on the matter since his phone did not go through.

The teachers interviewed said the unions have not withdrawn their call to members to stay away from school beginning today until their salary hike is effected.

On Sunday, TSC Head of Communications Kihumba Kamotho insisted that the teachers cannot legally go on a strike since they had not issued a strike notice as required by labour-relations laws.

"The commission has not received any strike notice from either Knut or Kuppet," he said adding that "all teachers are, therefore, expected at their respective work stations from Monday, August 31 2015 performing their teaching and administrative duties."

He insisted that the salary dispute was still at the Court of Appeal and teachers should allow the legal process to run its course.

He claimed that the only dispute the commission is aware of is the economic dispute, which is the subject matter of an appeal in the Court of Appeal.

This was happening on a day the unions were said to be preparing to file contempt case against TSC for failing to pay teachers the salary increase.

Speaking with The Standard yesterday, lawyer John Mbaluto for Knut said that the unions will move back to court to cite the commission for contempt.

The unions had given TSC five days in which it was to raise Sh4.9 billion to effect the 50-60 per cent pay increase.

The deadline given to teachers by the unions lapsed yesterday but the monies had not been remitted to the over 280,000 teachers.

The unions were banking their claim on the Court of Appeal's directions that the commission was to start paying the increased 50-60 per cent pay from August 1.

TSC, we learnt, was planning to move back to the Supreme Court in a bid to have the previous orders reviewed.