Teachers and their employer are fighting over court suits lodged during the 2015 tutors strike in what could derail the implementation of a pay deal agreed 18 months ago.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has instructed its lawyers to move to the Supreme Court and file an appeal over its push for pay rise of at least 50 per cent — which the government said it could not afford.
Knut’s push at the Supreme Court is informed by the Teachers Service Commission’s (TSC) decision to proceed with a case at the Appeals court that sought to challenge High Court’s judgment that tutors had a right to go on strike without issuing notice and deserved payment while on strike.
The TSC says the decision of the Appeals court will set a precedent, but teachers say the suit is in bad taste because the two parties had agreed to drop suits as part of a deal that ended the five-week-long strike.
The latest spat could affect the implementation of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that offered teachers a Sh54 billion pay rise spread over four years starting July.
“It is in this regard that we authorise you to pursue all our legal matters to conclusion at the Supreme Court since TSC has reneged on the precondition of withdrawal of all court cases and proceeded to the Court of Appeal against Justice Nelson Abuodha’s ruling,” said Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion in a letter dated May 24 to P.K. Muite.
The hearing of the TSC case failed to takeoff on Monday.
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