Kuppet ends his strike after finally reaching a deal with TSC.
A deal was made between Kuppet and the Teachers Service Commission, and the strike has been called off.
Since the strike started a second week on Monday, some schools had to send students home. This is why the deal was made.
On Monday evening, everyone agreed to end the strike, and TSC promised that no teacher would be hurt.
Akelo Misori, secretary general of the Kuppet, said that the remaining problems would be fixed while the strike was over.
“From the union side, we suspend the strike and ask all our teachers to go back to class pending the speedy resolution of these matters as already agreed on between us and the commission,” he told us.
Misori said that the union would send out more information after hearing the court’s decision on Thursday.
Nancy Macharia, CEO of the TSC, said that the parties decided to use alternative dispute resolution, which is what the agreement between the union and the commission says should be done.
Since Monday, August 16, 2024, Kuppet teachers have been on strike.
They were asking for a lot of things, like 130,000 teachers to be promoted, 46,000 JSS teachers to be hired on permanent, pensionable terms, and statutory deductions and loans to be paid back.
And they wanted their 2021–25 CBA to be fully put into action. They also wanted all of their salaries for July to be paid and Sh15 billion to be released for their medical coverage.
“After a daylong meeting, we are happy to report to the nation that we have reached an amicable settlement which will enable out teachers resume duty immediately,” said Macharia.
The head of the TSC said again that the government paid for phase II of the teachers’ CBA and the back pay that was due.
“Therefore, the government has implemented all the provisions of the 2021-25 CBA with the teacher unions specifically the second phase of the CBA which was due on July 1, 2024,” she added.
The CEO said that the money and all the fines were paid in August.
Status of the problems at hand
Review of guidelines for job advancement has begun and is still going on.
Payment of third-party fees – solved
Medical plan—Teachers can go to both state and private hospitals
Transition to CBC: JSS teachers are given resources to help them learn new skills
51,232 teachers were promoted, and the TSC will make more raises as soon as Parliament gives them the money.
New CBA negotiations will begin as soon as Kuppet makes his requests.
“Parties have agreed that any other pending issue(s) will be resolved through bi-partite negotiations as is the practice,” said Macharia.
Along with Knut and the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET), all teacher unions are bound by the deal.
“To this end, the Commission issued the implementation circular to all teacher unions including Kuppet as envisaged in the CBA 2021-2025,” the TSC boss said.
Kuppet ends his strike after finally reaching a deal with TSC.
