This archive report was first published on 15 July 2019.
Kenyan university lecturers have filed a case at the Labour and Industrial Relations Court, demanding a salary increase due to the high cost of living and pay disparities.
According to documents filed by the University Academic Staff Union (Uasu), the pay structure for public universities has large overlaps between adjacent grades, leading to demotivation and morale issues among senior grades.
Uasu argues that the graduate assistant position has never had a consistent grade as the rest of the academic ranks, with some universities hiring them at Grade 10 while others recruited them at Grade 11.
The union proposes correcting this anomaly by accommodating all graduate assistants at public universities at Grade 11, with other grades adopting this coding and moving serially upwards.
Uasu claims that its members have suffered erosion in their purchasing power by up to 54 per cent, and are demanding several allowances, including house, academic, professional, and book allowances.
They are also seeking significant salary increases, with graduate assistants earning between Sh195,656 and Sh306,006, and professors earning between Sh999,030 and Sh1,562,625.
Uasu secretary-general Constantine Wasonga says that the proposed rates are comparable to what is paid to certain public employees like MPs, who receive a monthly house allowance of Sh250,000 on top of a housing grant.
The matter will come up for hearing on September 23, with the chief economist in the Ministry of Labour expected to file a report in court within 60 days.
