The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has defended their proposal of a 60 per cent salary increment for teachers in its ongoing push for the review of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Speaking to the media on Monday the 17th of October 2022 at the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) in Nairobi during an induction meeting of KNUT’s branch executive secretaries, the union’s Secretary General Collins Oyuu said that despite the signing of the CBA which had no monetary benefits, the CBA did not stop the teachers from pushing towards further negotiations since it had a clause for a review.
Oyuu said that they had already presented their case to the teachers’ employer (Teachers Service Commission) for the commencement of the review and presentation of a counteroffer to the union.
“As we stand here as KNUT we have already presented proposals based on the 60 per cent pay rise for our teachers. I don’t know what shall be accepted, but that is what we have placed over for implementation. If TSC gets to go through our proposal, let them also bring their counter-proposal; and that is how negotiations work.
“We cannot just sit back and say let us wait. We have presented a proposal and we wait for TSC to come out candidly and give a counter-proposal,” said Collins Oyuu.
Oyuu said that the last time teachers’ pay underwent a review was in the 2016-2017 financial year. This means that from the 1st of July 2016 to date which is equivalent to 6 years which they have also been compensated for the rise in the cost of living.
KNUT Sec-Gen said that going by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) statistics, the annual inflation rate as of the end of September 2022 was at 9.2 per cent and was projected to stand at 10 per cent by the end of October 2022.
Since teachers had not received payment to compensate them for the 6 years, it was fair to extrapolate the annual rate of inflation over 6 years which is 60 per cent.
If this proposal is accepted, the highest-paid teacher in Grade D5 will earn Kshs. 252,249.6 per month from the current Kshs. 157,656.
The lowest at Grade B5 will earn Kshs. 43,512, a significant pay rise from the current Kshs. 27,195.
The table below shows the new salary scales after the 60% pay rise.
GRADE | HIGHEST SALARY BAND PER CATEGORY | AFTER 60% SALARY INCREASE |
D5 | 157,656 | 252,249.6 |
D4 | 121,890 | 195,024 |
D3 | 104,644 | 167,430.4 |
D2 | 91,041 | 145,665.6 |
D1 | 85,269 | 136,430.4 |
C5 | 64,631 | 103,409.6 |
C4 | 52,308 | 83,692.8 |
C3 | 53,943 | 86,308.8 |
C2 | 43,694 | 69,910.4 |
C1 | 33,694 | 53,910.4 |
B5 | 27,195 | 43,512 |