This archive report was first published on 5 August 2019.
Teachers in Kenya are demanding immediate salary increments after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) stopped the pay rise of 103,624 teachers who are members of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).
According to Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion, the TSC's decision was based on misinformation and lies, and amounts to discrimination and malicious action.
The teachers were set to receive phase three of the Sh54 billion 2017-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which was signed before the career progression guidelines were implemented.
Mr Sossion argued that the TSC cannot annul the CBA, and that the commission's decision to stop the pay rise is illegal and out of tune.
He also accused the TSC of misinforming teachers and the public about the implementation of the CBA, and of tampering with teachers' pay and recovering money paid to Knut members in the first and second phases of the CBA.
On the other hand, TSC's head of corporate communications, Mr Kihumba Kamotho, said the payroll for Knut members had not factored in phase three of the 2017-2021 CBA because the court ordered that their terms be based on the schemes of service and not career progression guidelines.
Mr Kamotho also said that the court's judgment had necessitated the preparation of two parallel payrolls in order to comply with the ruling without disadvantaging teachers who are not Knut members.
However, Knut has defended the employment and labour relations court judgment of July 12, saying it did not affect the implementation of the CBA and their salary increment.
The union has also accused the TSC of introducing two parallel payrolls for teachers based on the union they belong to, which is discrimination of employees.
Mr Sossion said, "All these wars the TSC is creating are meant to kill and dismantle Knut, which will never happen."
