TSC to Address CBA 2021-2025 Issue in Shortest Time Possible
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has now issued an answer to concerns over the pending Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that was planned to be signed before July 2021.
The Commission responded after the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary-General Akello Misori wrote to the Commission’s CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia expressing the union’s reservations on the delay in finalizing talks on a new CBA.
Akello Misori revealed that for two years since the talks between the Commission and the union, the Commission (TSC) has ignored their attempts to have structured talks on a consistent basis.
“As a union, we have diligently discharged our obligation under the Labour Relations Act, but the government has been dragging its feet for more than a year,” said KUPPET secretary-general Akello Misori.
On the negotiations, KUPPET has revealed that the only thing remaining is for the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to issue its advice to the Commission and then the Commission is to follow that up with a counteroffer to the union.
TSC on its part has acknowledged the grievances of KUPPET and confirmed that they are valid.
The Commission has duly noted your sentiments on the above subject matter (CBA 2021-2025) with which we concur to be valid. I wish to assure that the Commission is taking all the stages to ensure that the matter is addressed in the shortest time possible,” said the TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia.
The National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani wrote to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in April informing them that the government will not release almost Kshs. 83 billion in a salary increase that the state owes teachers and teachers.
In a letter dated the 18th of March 2020 addressed to Anne Gitau, the Commission Secretary at the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), Ukur Yatani attributed this to constraints in the budgetary because of the economic recession the global Coronavirus pandemic caused.
Ukur Yatani also revealed that the upcoming General Election is also part of the reason that the government will not disburse the funds.
“We have already factored Kshs. 10 billion in the Financial Year 2021-2022 ceilings for the preparatory activities,” said Ukur Yatani. He added that the remaining balance was to be factored in the next financial year.
A drop in taxes coupled with the pandemic and the national elections led to the Exchequer setting aside just Kshs. 6.8 billion or 10 percent of the Kshs. 68 billion that was meant for the four-year salary reviews for the national government’s workers in the next budget. However, County workers are exempt.
The rest of the funds will be released in phases in the financial years of 2022 to 2023-2024 to the year 2025.
KUPPET and KNUT protested the government’s decision and threatened to go on strike through the labor unions, teachers, and civil servants if the government does not honor the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) they both agreed with the government.
The implementation of the new CBA was expected to start on the 1st of July 2021.
The current CBA expires at the end of the month but TSC has not made any counteroffer to the one that the teachers’ unions made in the 2021-2025 CBA.
The CBAs are normally discussed and implemented over four years.
Labour union leaders blamed Ukur Yatani for using elections and the global COVID-19 pandemic as a fall-on excuse.
“The Government and employers should prepare for stiff resistance from unions,” said Wilson Sossion, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) secretary-general.
Session added that the economy was more than capable of covering the Kshs. 83 billion with close to two-fifths of this set potentially for teachers.
An economic recovery is set to come to the Exchequer’s aid boosting the government to collect Sh. 1.76 trillion in taxes in the next financial year.
“Further, due to the negative effects of COVID-19 on the economy we expect the economy and the projected slow recovery, revenue performance over the next two years,” said Ukur Yatani.