State must do all it can to avert varsity strike

Through their labour union, lecturers in public universities have issued a strike notice over the implementation of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed in October last year.

It is common knowledge that the terms and conditions of service of workers in public universities are nothing to write home about. This sector has been neglected and it yearns for serious consideration in many realms.

It is against this backdrop that we should contextualise the issuance of a strike notice by the lecturers’ union. Striking is a constitutional right. The Constitution recognises that workers have a right to fair remuneration, reasonable working conditions and, where they have issues with their employer, to go on strike.

The truth, nonetheless, is that striking should be the last recourse in employees’ quests for better working conditions and terms of service. Strikes are dreaded by workers the world over. Those on strike and the victims of the strikes suffer.

The lecturers have been victims of the State’s high handedness. To date, the ramifications of various past strikes are still reverberating in our public universities. Interference with academic programmes, low morale of staff and lack of long holidays for varsity staff has hampered service delivery in these institutions.

Colossal amounts of money have also gone into trying to ameliorate the effects of protracted strikes. Parents, students, varsity staff and the government have all borne the brunt. This is why every effort should be put in place to avert a strike to enable universities to achieve their core duties of teaching, research and community outreach.

Lecturers presented their proposals on pay in October last year. Although the counter offer they got fell short of their proposals, they took what they were offered. The government promised to implement the agreement by end of November last year.

Red herring

Unfortunately, the government did not keep its promise. Varsity employees have been taken round in circles by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and varsity managers through their council.

Excuses to the problem range from claims that accurate records of staff numbers are lacking, to a failure by the Education ministry to factor in the money in the Budget. These, however, appear to be a red herring.

Is it possible that the government does not know the number of staff in universities? On the money not being factored in the Budget, isn’t there a way out? Why play with the intelligence of varsity staff by, at one point, giving them hope while at another, a wet blanket?

The pay rise of between 5.75 per cent and 6.27 per cent is quite modest - the hue and cry it has generated is, to say the least, uncalled for. The ministry should look for the Sh8.8 billion and bring a smile to the faces of its workers in the universities. This is even more urgent considering the fact that the CBA was to be implemented in 2017, yet we are now in 2020.

Addressing ourselves out of the current rut demands a win-win situation for both parties. Threats and other forms of staff intimidation should be eschewed. They are archaic and demeaning. It is high time the government acknowledged it is better to reason things out than treat workers like people devoid of intelligence.

It is time the government accepted that workers have a right to industrial action whenever they feel aggrieved. What the government should preoccupy itself with to mitigate such actions is to address their concerns in the twin areas of working conditions and terms of service.

The use of the same approach year in year out whenever workers are dissatisfied casts aspersions on the problem-solving skills of those entrusted with the responsibility of managing various sectors of the government. It is high time a different approach in addressing the concerns of workers was applied.

We should go out of our way to avoid paralysis in learning in our public universities. The workers should have something to smile about as the government also gets its way. We should come out of the issue by at least giving lecturers something in the interim, while the other aspects are addressed through relevant bureaucratic procedures.

In future, CBA negotiations should be concluded in good time for the other processes to take course. This should involve both the national and local CBAs for the various universities.

In addition, the role of the SRC should be to try and balance the interests of employers and employees alike. It is my humble prayer that we go out of our way to avert the looming strike in our public institutions of higher learning.

Dr Ndaloh teaches at Moi University. ndaloagumba@yahoo.com