The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has revealed that the Third Party TPAY portal for teachers to visit to exit or re-join unions and associations of their choosing.
At the moment, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) facing a real possibility of losing union members for a variety of reasons.
On KUPPET’s part, they are facing a group of hostile Diploma teachers who said that the union has forgotten them as they pursued greener pastures.
According to the tutors, the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) are not favoring them in any way leading to stagnation in their jobs.
The teachers took the issue to Parliament and are also pushing for changes in KUPPET’s constitution which they view as being obsolete.
Some teachers have also come forward to complain that they were added to KUPPET without their consent.
On the other hand, KNUT is having to contend with classroom teachers who are not in agreement with the union’s drive to recruit members with no offer made concerning the new CBA.
Most tutors are imploring KNUT to negotiate a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that will reduce the huge salary gaps between them and school administrators.
TSC and unions of teachers are set to meet on the 13th of July to discuss the issues regarding the new CBA.
School administrators may not have to reject the union since the Commission awarded them a huge pay rise.
The KNUT Deputy Secretary-General Hesbon Otieno revealed that the opening of the portal is Step One in the process of restoring KNUT to its former glory.
“Teachers who believe in the union and the new team now have a chance to come back. This even as we still engage the employer no other ways of navigating these challenges,” he said.
“Teachers who believe in the union and the new leadership now have the opportunity to return to the union. This even as we are still negotiating with the employer on different ways of navigating these challenges,” said Otieno.
Otieno said that the union is set to embark on a drive of attracting members to return to the union.
Unfortunately, it seems the new KNUT leaders did not manage to immediately get back the teachers who had been registered to the union as of June 2019. In June 2019, KNUT has 187,471 members which meant the union had some Sh. 144 million in union dues.