Teachers a happy lot after new Sh54bn pay deal

Dennis Tarus

December 6, 2016 1:36 PM

The CBA introduces a standard daily subsistence allowance for those working outside their duty stations.

Teachers can now afford a reason to smile after their Sh54 billion collective bargaining agreement (CBA) pay deal was finally registered by the courts paving the way for its implementation.

The agreement, the first ever between the unions (Kenya National Union of Teachers, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers) and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), is meant to resolve the perennial disputes over allowances and basic pay which have seen learning regularly disrupted owing to strikes by teachers.

TSC chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia on Monday confirmed that the CBA had been filed by the Employment and Labour Relations Court.

"This is a requirement under Section 60 of the Labour Relations Act (2007), in readiness for implementation," said Macharia.

Finalisation of deal

She said that TSC was also working on the implementation modalities and details of benefits to individual teachers.

"The details will be communicated in a circular in early 2017," she said.

The TSC signed separate CBAs with the Kenya National Union of Teachers and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers on October 25 and 26 respectively.

KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion had earlier in June said that the CBA document had been well negotiated without coercion from either party, adding that they were satisfied with it since it would protect the gains the unions have made with regard to teachers’ pay.

He said TSC had openly engaged the union in drawing up the document and that both parties had been having meetings.

Dennis Tarus