New Salary For Teachers Who Missed Phase 3 And 4 Of Previous CBA

More Than 16,000 teachers who remained members of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) have a reason to smile after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) honored its promise of paying their arrears backdated to two years they missed out in the previous CBA.

The teachers’ employer started with Phase Four of the 2017-2021 CBA in August, in an effort to settle the arrears of the teachers whose pay has been backdated to two years to cover phases three and four (2019 and 2020) of the 54 billion shillings worth of CBA.

Confirming the development, KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu, said about 16, 000 teachers started receiving their salaries arrears in August.

“According to our arrangement with the TSC, they were to deal with Phase Four first, then get into Phase Three. What teachers have received so far is the Phase Four payouts,” said KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu.

As a result of this decision, teachers who benefited took home between 81,588 shillings to 247,656 shillings in arrears included in the August this year pay depending on the teacher’s salary points.

Teachers at Grade B5 as of July 1, 2018, and who were supposed to be promoted to C1 were awarded a salary increment of between 65,316 shillings to 81,588 shillings in arrears as per Phase Four of the CBA, while those who benefited at the highest Grade at C5 will receive between 119,568 shillings to 108,324 shillings in arrears.

Some of the teachers will also be promoted after they missed out on the opportunities when the rest of their colleagues were moved up during the implementation of the CBA.

Full implementation of 2017-2021 CBA saw primary school teachers who were previously on job group B5 earning a basic salary of Sh.21,345, moved to C1 with a salary increment of about 8,000 shillings.

Allowances for these teachers were also increased tremendously. They enjoyed a new house allowance of 4,200 shillings, commuter of 4,000 shillings, and hardship allowance of 8,200 shillings.

It is important to note that headteachers and their deputies who were Knut members also lost greatly under the last phase of the CBA.

The signing of the new 2021-2025 CBA on July 13, 2021, which required the union to review its age-old 1968 Recognition Agreement, seems to have thawed relations between the union and the teachers’ employer thus culminating in the unlocking of the payments that had been a source of bad blood between the two institutions.