THE Kenya National Union of Teachers was yesterday locked in day-long consultations to strategise on how to deal with a threat by government not to pay members their July salaries.
The union secretary general Mudzo Nzili said they will make a major announcement if the government will not have paid teachers by today. Knut chairman Wilson Sossion dared the government to deduct teachers' July salaries. "Our National Executive Council will meet to decide the next action," he said. "Our actions are normally extreme such that we either down tools completely or remain in classes to teach."
He said there is nothing like a go-slow. Sossion said the government is going against the return-to-work formula which stated that there will be no victimisation. The formula assured members that their June salary will be paid but is silent about the July salary.
"It was not necessary for the formula to talk about July. We were dealing with June which the government had threatened not to pay," Sossion said. Teachers had worked for 21 days in June, the minimum for an employee to be deemed to have worked as per the International Labour Laws.
Sossion said the government wants to save Sh8 billion from the Sh13 billion used to pay teachers per month to employ 10,000 new teachers and also settle the first phase of a harmonised commuter allowance. Teachers Service Commission boss Gabriel Lengoiboni said they will be guided by the law on the matte.
He said they will use Section 80 of the Labour Relations Act 2007 and Section 17 of the Employment Act. Nairobi Knut secretary Hesbon Otieno asked Deputy President William Ruto, who brokered the deal to end the Knut strike, to intervene and stop the Education ministry, TSC and SRC officers from harassing teachers who are back to work.
"Teachers already met with the government and agreed on how lost time will be recovered," he said. An extra week was added for second and another for third term to recover lost teaching time. On July 19, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission wrote a letter the TSC citing the lack of productivity and performance in July.
Yesterday, the SRC Chairperson, Sarah Serem said the letter was based on the principle of recognizing productivity and performance which is core to her commission. SRC said remuneration and benefits for public servants is based on the understanding that the salary is paid to employees who have worked.
"Paying teachers the July salary has a serious impact on the government wage bill especially when you are paying on a wastage occasioned by an unprotected strike," the letter read.
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