The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) is demanding an immediate 60% salary increase for its members as per the 2021 -2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
After a meeting with their employer, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), KNUT Secretary General, Collins Oyuu, said teachers need to be cushioned during these harsh economic times just as other professionals in the country.
“This time around, we put it squarely and barely that teachers have an irreducible minimum demand that the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) be reviewed to earn teachers’ money. Teachers want money and not stories,” Oyuu said during a Nairobi press conference on Wednesday, July 20.
Should the CBA be effected by parliament, the lowest paid teacher in Job Group B1 will get a salary increment of Ksh14,550 earning him/her a monthly income of Ksh38,800.
The highest paid teachers who are in Job Group D5 will in turn earn Ksh 237, 376 after a salary increment of about Ksh 89,016.
In his statement, Oyuu pegged KNUT’s argument on the review by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) whose job evaluation established that teachers are professionals performing designated and specific tasks, but are currently the lowest paid in the job market.
“The inflation rate at the moment does not allow that we hold several boardroom meetings with the employer, government agencies and even friends without mentioning the aspect of a monetary gain,” Oyuu said.
KNUT however revealed that its strained relationship with the employer, TSC, has been addressed after the two bodies held a three-day meeting over the same.