KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu

Teachers have asked for a pay increase of 60% from their employer, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

The teachers announced on Wednesday that they won’t accept anything less than a wage increase through their organization, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).

The union has already submitted a proposal to TSC, according to Knut Secretary General Collins Oyuu, asking for a reassessment of the 2021–2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

“It is true that we signed a CBA that extended maternity leave days for our female teachers and introduced a paternity leave for male teachers, but with the current economic challenges, teachers need money benefits and hence a demand for a salary increment, ” said Mr Oyuu.

The TSC and the teachers’ union met in Naivasha two weeks ago to discuss, among other things, the possibility of reviewing the CBA.

Knut claims that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s announcement of a pay raise for public servants during Labor Day festivities served as evidence that the nation’s economy had fully recovered from the shocks caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Mr.Oyuu asked TSC to present the teacher’s wage  proposal to the request to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to guarantee that teachers obtain salary increases as quickly as possible.

“We both agreed to have a structured conversation and we agreed to have a structured salary increment,” he said.

Knut has also called for the promotion of teachers with advanced higher academic qualifications.

Over 60,000 teachers, according to Mr. Oyuu, have advanced degrees, master’s degrees and PhDs and they should be promoted.