TSC Opens A Third Party Portal For Teachers Wishing To Join KNUT

Those who wish to join Kenya National Unions Of Teachers (KNUT) have something to smile about as Teachers Services Commission TSC, opens the third-party portal where teachers can visit to exist or rejoin unions and associations of their choice.

However, this move is a major blow to the new KNUT leadership with teachers and members have great hope that TSC would restore union members’ roll as it were in June 2019 where the union had 187,471 members with a return of 144 Million shillings from the union dues.

This comes after years of the tiff between the union and employer that saw the number of teachers in the union decline drastically.

Now, KNUT and the Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) facing a real possibility of losing union members for a variety of reasons.

Since 2019, the numbers of KNUT members had dropped to about 16,000 members with a followed mass exit from the union that saw it lose a lot of union dues they were expected to receive from the employer.

The teachers said the Career Programme Guideline (CPG) did not favor them and has led to job signation

The teachers took the matter to parliament and are also pushing for changes in the KUPPET constitution which they view as being obsolete.  Some teachers also claimed that they were added to KUPPET against their will.

On the other hand, KNUT is facing classroom teachers who are opposed to the union drive to recruit members without putting something on the table

Most classroom teachers are pushing KNUT to negotiate a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that will reduce the huge salary gap between them and the school administrators.

TSC and the Union of Teachers are set to meet on 13^th July to iron out issues on CBA negotiation. School administrators may have not had to reject the union since the commission awarded them a huge pay rise.

According to KNUT Deputy Secretary-General Hesbon Otieno, the opening of the portal is step one in the process of restoring KNUT to its former glory. He said the union will aggressively embark on a drive to bring back its members.

The rift between KNUT and TSC under ex-secretary William Sossion saw KNUT get zero dues for the month of August and July in 2019 leading to a mass exodus of teachers to its sister union KUPPET.

Read More: Teachers To Get Salary Increase Starting August 2021, Here Are The New Salary Scales