Teachers don’t agree with the back-to-work deal that union leaders signed.
Teachers all over the country were furious that their strike was called off on Monday night. They said they didn’t get a fair deal from the deal their union made with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
That’s why, on Tuesday, some Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) branch executive secretaries who are also on the union’s National Governing Council (NGC) said the national officials who made the decision should step down because they were against the union’s statutes.
The officials who talked to Nation said they would try to get rid of the national executive board (NEB) that met with TSC officials on Monday before telling teachers to go back to work.
Article 22(b) of the Kuppet constitution says that only the NGC can give the go-ahead for industrial action to begin or stop.
Part (c) of the article says, “If the NGC calls for a strike or sit-in, no one shall call off the strike unless duly authorized by the NGC.”
The NGC is the union’s top decision-making body. It is made up of the 10 members of the NEB and the executive officers from the 47 branches.
The NGC met in Nairobi on Sunday and agreed that the job boycott should go on for another week.
The council has not changed its mind about this decision, so all union members are still formally bound by it.
The NGC decided that any changes to the state of the strike or the deal with the employer should be talked about in a virtual meeting led by Secretary-General Akello Misori.
These steps were not taken, though, because the NEB ended the job stoppage after a day-long meeting on Monday with top TSC officials led by CEO Nancy Macharia.
E. Obwocha, who is the secretary for secondary schools, was the only person who left the meeting to protest.
They didn’t want to go back to work, but handling a strike takes time. The news came out so quickly. Teacher Moses Mbora, who is the secretary for the Nairobi County branch, said, “They should have been given time to think about what they were learning.”
In this picture, Akelo Misori, Secretary General of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers, talks to the media at TSC offices in Nairobi on September 2, 2024.
“There are benefits, but the only thing that worries me is whether these promises are true.” It’s too bad that TSC has been wasting kids’ time in Kenya.
Many teachers were shocked by the decision because they had spent the day protesting in towns across the country as the strike began its second week and gained steam as some schools sent students home.
One statement from Kuppet, signed by officials, calls the action “calling off the strike.” Another statement from Kuppet, signed by officials, calls it “suspending the strike.”
“NEB messed up during the strike, and that office has been having problems with delegates.” The government will now have an easy time making teachers mad, which is why they should step down and let new people take over, said Sabala Inyeni, head of the Vihiga branch.
A member of the NGC said they were not asked for their opinion. Jack Okoth, the chair of Kuppet in Homa Bay County, said that teachers had agreed to end the strike, but they were unhappy with how the deal was made.
“We planned how we were going to hold a protest in the county, but on Monday night we were told that the strike had been called off.” He said, “We hope that what was talked about will be taken care of, and TSC should promise teachers that what was brought up will be taken care of.”
In Kisumu County, teachers had a range of responses to the end of the strike, even though classes went back to normal quickly.
Zablon Awange, who is the president of the Kisumu County Kuppet, says that most teachers did not like the move.
“We’re upset, but we have to deal with it.” The teachers were more motivated to keep going on strike. At first, people thought Kuppet couldn’t hold a strike, Mr. Awange said.
The reason they were upset was that the NGC had not met to end the strike, he said.
“We are waiting to see if TSC will keep some of the promises they made to teachers, no matter what.” “If they don’t keep their end of the deal, we won’t think twice about taking to the streets,” he said.
Alfred Kamuto, who is from West Pokot, said, “We don’t agree with them (NEB).” We don’t know why they were in a hurry. They have to agree with every county chair. They made their own choice.
He also said that teachers are talking about whether or not they will go back to class.
The TSC did not deduct the monthly payments to the union from the August pay stubs. This made Kuppet leaders very worried that they would not be able to pay for union operations or the strike.
Members of Kuppet give 1.8% of their monthly basic pay to the union every month.
Due to lack of funds and to avoid what happened to their sister union, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), whose monthly income dropped from Sh147 million to just Sh12 million after a strike, Kuppet leaders chose to follow the rules.
Activating the “exit button,” which would let the TSC remove teachers from Kuppet’s membership rolls, is also said to have pushed the union’s hand. There are about 135,000 teachers who belong to the group.
Omondi Oluoch, secretary of the Tana River Kuppet branch, was upset and said that the union’s top leaders had “poured cold water on our faces and made a serious issue seem silly.”
“The strike was a fight for the professional soul and honor of teachers, a fight to bring back their lost glory.” The NEB let us down when we had hoped for a better, more honorable workplace and had to show guts, sacrifice, commitment, and hope.
“We will disprove the story that the branch secretaries agreed with ending the strike.” We had police licenses to keep going with the strike on Tuesday, but they don’t work anymore. “The head office has let us down,” Mr. Charles Ngeno, executive secretary of the Narok branch, said.
Mary Rotich, secretary of the Kericho branch, and Paul Kimetto, secretary of the Bomet branch, both said that teachers felt cheated when the strike was called off when they were ready to stay on the streets to hold TSC accountable.
“It’s too bad that teachers were able to get police permission to hold peaceful protests before the strike was suddenly called off.” Why did the NGC meet on Sunday in the first place?” Ms. Rotich asked.
Mr. Kimetto agreed with her and said, “It is clear to everyone that the problem is not with the branch officials but with those at headquarters. They should be held accountable for acting without consulting anyone.”
Also, Joseph Mogire, head of the Kisii branch, said that NEB members had betrayed the branches and teachers by ending the strike without getting permission first, which is against the union’s rules.
“Who told the secretary-general that he could end the strike without running it by the National Governing Council?” “This is an empty promise to our members who gave their lives to the cause,” Mr. Mogire said.
Mr. Misori, on the other hand, said that the deal with the TSC was legal and that the court consent had been signed by both the Kuppet and TSC legal teams. The parties will show the consent tomorrow, Wednesday.
“Since both sides agreed to the consent, there are no longer any legal disputes between Kuppet and the TSC.” The TSC Petition and Application from August 26, 2024, as well as the Kuppet Application from August 27, 2024, will be settled when the parties go to court on Thursday. This will allow both sides to work together again on all problems, he said.
He also said that the agreement covers all of the issues on the union’s list of complaints except for hiring 46,000 junior school teachers right away on permanent, pensionable terms and hiring 20,000 new JS teachers.
“The union will press the issue hard with the Cabinet secretaries for Education, Finance, and Labor to get rid of the TSC’s bad labor practices in Kenya.” When President William Ruto gets back from his trip to China, we’ll talk about it with him.
Omboko Milemba, chairperson of Kuppet, said that union and Knut officials had met several times and agreed to go ahead with the strike, but they were worried about how strikes are organized and pointed out major problems with communication and paperwork.
“We got together a few times, but we never agreed to end the strike.” Even though we agreed that it would go on, they (Knut) betrayed us. He said, “It was clear that the notice had already been sent.”
Teachers don’t agree with the back-to-work deal that union leaders signed.
