The fight for decent living conditions and fair salaries are behind the closure of schools in Kenya following the walkout of the country’s public school teachers who are calling for an acceptable collective bargaining agreement.
After negotiations on increased salaries with the employer, the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC), and the government failed, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), both affiliated to Education International (EI), requested teachers to stay out of work as of 5 January until a satisfactory collective bargaining agreement is reached. All 27,949 educational institutions of learning across the country are closed, with over nine million learners affected.
“We are asking our members to remain united and listen to only one voice, the one of the Secretary General as the teachers’ spokesman. Other voices trying to water down our noble struggle for the workers’ rights in the noblest profession must not be listened to until the government talks to us through the appropriate forums,” said KNUT National Chairman Mudzo Nzili.
Ongoing negotiations
Nzili’s union has been engaged since January last year in negotiations with the government to adopt a new collective bargaining agreement, after the last agreement, signed in 1997, expired in 2011. Last year saw 26 joint meetings between the unions and the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finances, and the TSC. The last talks held between the unions and the government, including the Ministry of Labour, on 7 January were unfruitful.
In defiance of a TSC order calling all teachers back to school unconditionally, or face unspecified consequences, on 8 January, and qualifying the strike as illegal, Nzili asked members “to stay out of school until an amicable solution is reached”. He also deplored a “tense, nasty and unfortunate situation for an education system struggling to achieve Education for All, as well as the many development agenda items linked to education, such as the Millennium Development Goals”.
Unliveable salaries
“Since 1997, teachers’ salaries have not been reviewed, while the cost of living has been constantly going up,” highlighted KNUT Executive Officer Lucy N. Barimbui.
The unions believe teacher salaries must be raised by at least the 100-150 per cent to ensure acceptable living standards. A teacher on the low end of the salary scale currently earns a minimum of 16,692 Kenyan shillings (around 155 euros) a month to a maximum of 21,304 Kenyan shillings (around 200 euros), while teachers on the high end of the scale earns between 94,252,896 Kenyan shillings (around 880 euros) to a maximum of 144,928 Kenyan shillings (around 1,350 euros) per month.
The union also wants to see the existing house allowance increased by 50 per cent for teachers in major towns to be able to afford decent accommodation. The lowest paid teacher earns a maximum of ksh. 3,500 (around 30 euros) a month as house allowance, “barely enough for a house even in the slums of Nairobi,” Barimbui added.
The Trade Union Congress of Kenya, representing all unions of civil servants and teachers, has supported KNUT and KUPPET, calling on the government to quickly solve the matter. The Central Organisation of Trade Unions has also expressed concern over the slow governmental pace in resolving the issue.