As stipulated in the Labour Relations Act 14 of 2007, TSC is mandated to deduct and pay a trade union agency fees from salaries of every “unionsable” employee who is not a member of the union, but who has benefitted from a Collective Agreement negotiated and concluded between TSC and the Commission.
There is seemingly reason for the Kenya National Union of Teachers to smile as this will be a major boost as the number of members decreased dramatically following their prolonged tussle with the Commission. TSC has never remitted any agency fees to KNUT since June 2019 when conflict broke out between TSC and KNUT.
The Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) signed their first CBA recently with TSC and are now going to charge an agency fee of 1.45 percent of the basic salary of non-members.
According to KNUT’s constitution, all teachers who are not attached to the teachers union but benefit from their services are required to pay an agency fee of 2 percent of their basic salary so as to continue enjoying the fruits of the negotiated CBA.
On the other hand, the constitution of the KNUT’s counterpart, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (KUPPET) stipulates that teachers who are not KUPPET members should be charged an agency fee at the rate of 1.8 percent of their basic salary.
This means that teachers who currently do not belong to any teachers’ union should not be surprised if they see deductions on their payslips.