The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and three unions have to go back to the drawing board now after they hit a stalemate on how to compensate teachers during salary review talks that started in Nairobi yesterday.
Talks between the TSC and teachers’ unions on salary reviews have broken down after the unions rejected the employer’s offer of 2.4 per cent and 9.5 per cent.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) gave the TSC until next Monday to come up with a better offer.
“I have given them until Monday to come up with concrete proposals that we can talk about. So we can’t agree; we’re at an impasse,” said Kuppet secretary general Akello Misori.
The Kuppet general secretary described the employer’s move as “deceitful” after pushing for a 30 to 70 per cent pay rise, saying what the TSC had presented was less than the presidential announcement and the SRC’s recommendation, which were between 7 and 10 per cent.
Meanwhile, Knut general secretary Collins Oyuu, who had demanded a 60 per cent increase across all grades, seemed satisfied with the proposed 2.4 to 9.5 per cent increase because of the way it was distributed.
“2.5-9.5% is welcomed by KNUT. 2.4% goes to the highest earners and 9.5% to the lowest. Nothing has been reduced; I don’t think it’s right to say that TSC has taken a different amount of money”.
