Teacher unions can ring-fence gains made by standing united

Unions were created to regulate power between employers and employees since employers worldwide had a high affinity for exploitation.

Therefore, the main reasons for the creation of unions were to fight discrimination, secure representation, advocacy, information and advice to members and member service delivery.

This worked very well from the initial years. Unions such as KNUT could secure a single employer, secure recognition agreements with employers and obtain equal terms and conditions of service for workers in the same profession. Unions have visions, missions, core values and mottos that drive their day-to-day activities.

KNUT for instance wants to be the most effective and self-reliant teachers’ union in the world by uniting teachers of all grades for quality service, socio-economic improvement, and professional advancement, strengthening their bargaining power and promoting quality education through effective leadership and effective programming; that which is propagated by all other teacher trade unions in Kenya.

Great strides have been made through effective programs that have elevated teachers’ social standards. Achievements such as a Recognition Agreement, securing the same terms and conditions of service, securing a negotiation framework, establishing of the Employment and Labour Relations Courts and establishing a strong government department in charge of labour and social protection and improved salaries and allowances have played a significant role in improving the quality of life for teachers and their work environment over time.

However, the employer has time without numbers used to divide and rule tactics to disenfranchise and fragment unions, causing small units of unions that have no meaningful impact on teacher representation.

This is as a result of unions having risen to threatening levels of solidarity. Tactics such as dangling of carrots to woe teachers to exit union membership and causing discrimination in pay and allowances almost costed the existence of union in the period between 2015 and 2021.

KNUT wished to discourage teachers who had fallen prey to divisive tactics from inciting others to hate and divide their strength of solidarity.

The result is constant name-calling, envy, hate and agitations to withdraw from trade union membership.

This can be equated to the tale of monkeys that celebrated the death of the farmer who used to chase them out of his farm. There was no one to send them away but later, there was no maize to eat, and that is when they realised it was the farmer who provided for their livelihoods.

Teachers need to know the benefits of belonging to trade unions, which include, but are not limited to; assured representation, negotiations, advocacy, guaranteed salary even when on holidays and during pandemics like Covid-19, improved salaries and allowances and engaging the employer in bargaining for better pay and terms and conditions of service.

The joint approach mounted by teacher unions in Kenya, specifically KNUT and KUPPET, on failure by the employer to implement the second phase of the 2021/2025 CBA and the impending nationwide teachers strike is a manifestation of a true emancipation of real trade unionism in Africa and the world.

This is the way to go! Unions in the same profession must come out and begin unity talks that will lead to formation of federations of unions within the same profession.

Whereas a CBA framework provides that individual unions engage their employers in its formation and agree on the implementation process, one would wonder why, for instance, the teachers’ employer should sign one document with three different entities containing the same content, same premises and the same implementation structure.

It beats logic why the employer should engage individual unions on different times discussing the same documents with the only difference being the name of the union.

To be specific, the five demands placed by the three unions in the basic education sector are; Failure to implement the second phase of the 2021/2025 reviewed CBA signed between the Teachers Service Commission and KNUT.

Failure to remit third-party deductions such as bank loans, Sacco Savings and loan repayment deductions, Burial and Benevolence and Education Fund savings, loan and NSSF deductions to respective organizations.

Others are the delayed conversion of 46,000 junior school teachers to permanent and pensionable terms of employment and employment of 20,000 new teachers, Failure to promote 130,000 teachers who were shortlisted and sat for interviews in December 2023 and failure to remit capitation to medical insurers to allow service providers offer medical services to sick teachers and their families.

A time has come for trade unions to wake up and see that the enemy of progress in the teaching profession is not far from their egos, selfishness and self-seeking attitudes. Unity talks are key at this critical moment, especially now that governments have metamorphosized to turncoats and are no longer willing to implement what they initially agreed.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers is calling upon all sister unions in the sector to rethink their position in forming a federation of trade unions in the education sector and continue ring-fencing the gains made through the existence of COTU. Through this, it will be easier and safer to make greater achievements for teachers in the future.