This week concludes with good news for teacher unions in Kenya, as Education International affiliates KNUT and KUPPET signed a historic collective bargaining agreement, which includes a significant salary boost.
Officials of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) warmly welcomed the conclusion of a long negotiation process and highlighted the advantages for all Kenyan teachers.
Some 65,000 non-affiliated teachers will contribute with monthly agency fees to benefit from the new collective agreement when it becomes effective on July 1, 2017.
In a message just two days after the unions signed the deal that will enable an increase of 54 billion Kenyan Shillings (equivalent to about 524 million US Dollars) to the overall salary mass of all Kenyan teachers, KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion said non-union teachers would pay these agency fees at a given percentage calculated on their basic salaries. “This is a matter of law under the [Kenyan] Labour Relations Act, which clearly states no one should benefit from a negotiated deal that they are not party to,” said Sossion. “This deal is a victory for all Kenyan teachers, and by way of this agreement, all of them will be included and benefit.”