Uasu chair Sammy Kubasu (left) with Knut secretary-general David Okuta, SRC chair Sarah Serem and other officials at a Press conference in Nairobi Tuesday. Mrs Serem said another umbrella union, Pusetu, would sit in SRC committees. Photo/Diana Ngila
What you need to know:
The Federation of Public Service Trade Unions of Kenya (Pusetu) and Cotu are locked in a battle for slots in key State organs.
Pusetu said it would still push for removal of Cotu from the commission altogether.
The umbrella civil servants’ union has scored a major victory after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission invited it to be part of the agency’s committees.
The Federation of Public Service Trade Unions of Kenya (Pusetu) and the high-profile Central Union of Trade Unions of Kenya (Cotu) are locked in a battle for slots in key State organs, including the salaries commission.
Pusetu said it would still push for removal of Cotu from the commission altogether.
Tuesday, Sarah Serem, the salaries commission chairlady, announced that Pusetu would be included in the agency’s committees, handing the union a first victory over its rival.
Cotu has one position in the SRC board, three slots in the National Labour Board, two in the National Social Security Fund board and one in the National Health Insurance Fund board.
Pusetu leaders want all these seats, saying Cotu represents private sector workers.
However, Mrs Serem said her commission does not have the mandate to replace any member, but is allowed to co-opt anybody as part of its committees.
“We have promised to the union (Pusetu) that as and when we need their skill we will incorporate them in our committees,” Mrs Serem said.
The recently formed Pusetu argues that SRC is mandated to determine pay issues in the public sector and, therefore, Cotu, whose affiliates largely represent private sector workers, should not be a member of the commission.
Cotu and Pusetu had upon the latter’s formation in November momentarily engaged each other in a war of words over the seat with Cotu dismissing Pusetu’s formation as illegitimate. The exchange had since died down.
Cotu says that is was already recognised and registered as the national union organisation and this grants it seats in many public institutions, including the salaries team.
“Pusetu’s inclusion is only acceptable as long as they participate in a consultative committee like other interested groups,” said George Muchai, Cotu’s deputy secretary- general.
“When such a committee presents its findings, Cotu’s commissioner in SRC cannot refuse to listen to them since we after all sit at a higher level than them.”
Pusetu’s members include the Union of Kenya Civil Servants (UKCS), the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet).
With the apparent accreditation by SRC, the two umbrella unions could soon be forced to work together at the committee level even as threats of court action persist.
“Our aim is not to distract operation at the commission and, therefore, if we are required to work together we will attend the committees as individual bodies,” said Sammy Kubasu, the Uasu national chairman and Pusetu vice chairman.
“We intend to pursue the matter in court soon after which Cotu will hopefully be removed from the commission.”
The SRC is by law required to have 14 members whose mandate is to set and regularly review remuneration and benefits of state officers and advice national and county government on the same.
The members include a representation from an umbrella employers’ body (the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) and another from a joint forum of professional bodies.
It is the seat indicated in the Constitution as “one person nominated by an umbrella body representing trade unions” that the newly-formed group is targeting. The seat is currently held by Isaiah Kubai, who represents Cotu.
Registration of rival unions has in the past been seen as an attempt to weaken existing ones, especially when they become a thorn in the flesh of the government of the day.
The salaries team is currently in the final stages of preparing the new salaries and benefit packages for all public servants which is expected to be announced next month.
Besides the unions, it has also confronted MPs who have attempted to water down it powers by setting their own remuneration while teachers have gone ahead to wring concessions from the State by ignoring the SRC’s role.
