Teachers threaten to strike over SRC perks review plans

Teachers have warned of industrial action after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) issued a circular proposing review of several allowances that they have been enjoying.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary-general Wilson Sossion said it was unacceptable for the commission to review its members’ allowances without consultation.

“As we talk, we have no responsibility, commuter, medical and special school allowances. We fought for these allowances and no one can take them away from us,” Mr Sossion told the Business Daily on Thursday.

According to the SRC proposals, commuter allowance rates payable to teachers should be reviewed and harmonised with those of civil servants to minimise disparities.

The allowance is paid to cater for the teachers’ transport expenses to and from workplace and this year the they were awarded the perks after a protracted struggle with the government.

Teachers have been getting commuter allowance of between Sh4,000 and Sh16,000 for job groups G and R respectively since July.

The salaries commission has also recommended the review of responsibility allowance which it wants harmonised and consolidated into basic pay for easy determination.

READ: SRC hands civil servants fat travel allowances

The allowance is paid to teachers charged with administrative duties and as a result do not teach depending on whether a school is day or boarding. It also varies according to number of streams in day schools and batches of 60 students for boarding schools.

SRC also recommended that special school allowance be paid as a flat rate based on job group and not a percentage of the basic pay.

The allowance is paid to teachers offering special needs and teaching services at a monthly rate of between Sh1,452 and Sh10,908 depending on job group.

“Medical allowance does not make sense in the lens of universal access to healthcare. This allowance should be restructured and replaced with provision of a medical insurance scheme to cover all teachers,” said the Sarah Serem-led SRC.

All teachers earn a medical allowance at a monthly rate of between Sh767 and Sh4,412. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has already offered all school instructors a comprehensive medical scheme after talks with their union leaders last month.

The commission, however, awarded teachers leave allowance ranging between Sh4,000 and Sh10,000 a year but the amount is less than the one-month salary leave allowance their union is demanding under current negotiations with the TSC.

Mr Sossion observed that whereas the SRC is mandated to advise relevant State agencies, it had taken upon itself the role of making decisions on the remunerations.

He insisted that SRC was overstepping its constitutional mandate as provided for in Article 230 (4) (b) which states that its responsibility is to advise the national and county governments on the remuneration and benefits of all public officers.

Mr Sossion also urged the government to move fast and conclude all pending collective bargaining agreements with various unions to avoid industrial unrest in the entire public service sector.

“We demand that all individual unions continue to seek their rules of engagement with relevant employers for quick resolution of reported labour disputes,” added the Knut secretary-general.

On Thursday last week, SRC announced radical changes that would see the several allowances in the public service scrapped with a target of saving more than Sh125 billion, which would translate to 25 per cent of the total wage bill.

According to the commission more than Sh184 billion was paid in form of allowances to state and public officers in the last financial year.