Here Is What Teachers Have Tabled In TSC Salary Talks

Salary talks between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) have resumed, with the union reportedly pushing for a basic salary increment of between 15 to 20 percent.

As teachers’ unions are pushing for re-negotiations of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA, to factor in the money component. TSC has come up with various proposals under discussion and Salaries and allowances for teachers which await advisory from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, SRC, can now be revealed.

This new development follows the move by the national assembly in October 2021 revoking circular issued by the SRC in June last year, freezing salary increment in the public service for the next two years starting July 2021.

The legislators ruled that the circular was unconstitutional as its violets workers’ rights to engage in collective bargaining with employers in line with the provision of Article 41(5) of the constitution.

This means that workers in civil servants including teachers through the union were free to negotiate for new pay increases which SRC, had frozen, a situation that has now paved way for teachers notably KNUT and KUPPET to call for negotiation and revied of the previously signed 2021-2025.

In June last year, SRC had frozen salary increment for all civil servants starting July noting tough economic time brought by the covid-19 pandemic.

TSC is said to be concerned with classroom teachers outcry who want the huge salary gap between them and school administrators to be addressed.

According to KNUT, the non-monetary collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed with TSC in July last year will be reviewed soon.

KNUT Secretary-General Collins Oyuu revealed that the union had held five meetings with TSC to address the issue, with the sixth one planned to take place in a few days.

From the negotiations, the union only came out with an enhanced maternity leave, which was increased from 90 to 120 days, and paternity leave was pushed from 14 to 21 days.

In the CBA, KNUT ceded secondary school and tertiary institution members to its rival, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET).

During the tenure of Mr. Wilson Sossion as secretary-general, the union’s membership reduced from 187,000 to 15,000 due to a long-running spat with TSC and the Ministry of Education fueled by a litany of legal battles in the industrial court.

It also saw the union’s earnings sharply drop from more than Sh147 million per month to Sh12,000 by the time he bowed out of the union leadership.

In November 2020, TSC had proposed a minimum of 16 percent increment of basic salary for teachers in their counteroffer, in the 2021-2025 CBA which was already deposited at SRC before the salary issuing a circular freezing pay rise in the Civil servants in June 2021

This implied that teachers in Grade C4 to D5 would have benefited from 16 percent in their basic salaries in the CBA while those in Grade B5 to Grade C3 could see a 32 percent pay rise in their salaries effective July 2021.

This essentially Senior and Chief principal were to earn 131,380 shillings and a maximum of 157,656 shillings while deputy principal ranked between job Group D1 to D3 were expecting to earn between 77,840 shillings and 125,573 shillings

Both KNUT and KUSNET had issued their salary proposals. KUPPET had proposed a salary increment of between 30-70 percent for the highest-paid workers and the lowest earners.

In the proposal, KUSNET wanted the lowest-paid teacher in job group C2 to earn Sh59,425, up from Sh34,955, and the highest-paid teacher Sh153,715, up from Sh118,242.

KNUT on the other hand is pushing for a basic salary increment of between 15 to 20 percent for its members.