The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) had given teachers’ employer a seven-day ultimatum to have talks.
KNUT says the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has not called its representatives back for talks despite a seven-day ultimatum that expires Thursday at midnight.
KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion told one of the local radio station that no one has contacted them since the talks collapsed.
“Should the deadline lapse without any action from the Commission, the union will convene its National Executive Council meeting to chart the way forward,” he declared.
TSC postponed scheduled talks with the union to address among other issues the contentious transfer of teachers.
Sossion observed that the postponement of the meeting showed disinterest on the part of Commission coupled with mischief and distrust.
He noted that as early as July 2018, teachers had formally raised several pertinent issues affecting harmonious industrial relations, which called for urgent interventions.
He recalled both parties had agreed that further promotions were an inevitable action by the employer, only for the TSC to introduce policies and appraisals which contradict the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and Code of Regulations for Teachers (CORT).
He stated that should the teachers’ employer fail to re-convene, steps and actions will be taken without reference to them.
However, the action that the union may take is to call for a teachers’ strike, which comes amid the Kenya National exams which ae set to begin at the end of this month.
Teachers play a vital role in the examination process, right from supervision to invigilating the process.
The ministry of Education already released a report on how the billions of money allocated to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) will be shared.
The ministry in association with the ministry of interior has so far intensified security across the country to ensure that the 2018 KCPE and KCSE goes on smoothly.
But now, just incase the teachers union calls for a strike, what will happen to the already scheduled program? Will it give the candidates a room for cheating?
But again the rules set against cheating in national examinations looks tough than sossion’s threats to TSC. Will the government come in to save the situation? Let’s wait until midnight when the ultimatum will completely expire, to know the action KNUT will have to take.