The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) says it has not called off the teachers strike set for September 1, at the beginning of the third term for schools despite its meeting with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Through a statement, the Union’s Secretary General Wilson Sossion stated that the power of calling off the strike only lies with the National Executive Council.
“KNUT would like to categorically state that the Union has not vacated its position on the proposed strike as the power of calling off the strike rests with the National Executive Council (NEC),” he stated.
He further stressed that the industrial action can only be called off after the TSC successfully addresses the issues of concern to the union.
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has denied reports that it promised to promote 30,000 teachers during a consultative meeting with Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).
In two separate statements to newsrooms, the two parties however stated that the daylong consultative meeting held Thursday was successful.
Both Knut and TSC say that they discussed promotions of teachers among other items but deny a deal was reached to move staff to higher grades. “There are no pending cases of promotion as all promotions are effected when due, and within the framework of the 2017-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA),
” TSC said in a statement. The teachers’ employer explained that during the meeting with Knut, there were no discussions of pending promotions.
“It is therefore misleading to teachers for anybody to appear to be committing TSC on promotion of teachers outside the CBA framework and the existing policy. It only creates unnecessary anxiety unwarranted expectations,” said Kihumba Kamotho, TSC head of communication.
The statement further said that a retreat will be held between September 30 and October 5 to deliberate further on the matters discussed.
Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion said that even through the meeting discussed all matters affecting teachers, no agreement was arrived at to warrant calling of the strike.
“KNUT would like to categorically state that the Union has not vacated its position on the proposed strike as the power of calling off the strike rests with the National Executive Council (NEC). And by extension, the strike will only be called off after TSC successfully addresses the fore-mentioned issues,” said Sossion.