Kuppet seeks 70pc basic salary rise for least paid teacher

Teachers Tuesday opened talks with their employer on the next cycle of pay rise with demand for several allowances.

The four-day meeting in Naivasha — attended on the first day by Teachers Service Commission (TSC) chief executive Nancy Macharia — is set to scrutinise the 2021-2025 Collective bargaining agreement (CBA) proposals.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), in its proposal, wants secondary teachers II, secondary teachers UT and primary special need education teachers — all in Grade C2 to earn a minimum Sh59,425 monthly salary. The group currently earn Sh34,955 per month. This translated to 70 percent jump for the least paid teacher.

The union also wants teachers currently taking home Sh43,694 to be paid a basic salary of Sh74,280 per month. If the CBA goes through, Chief Principals and Senior Principals currently earning Sh118, 242 would be paid Sh153,715 while those on Sh141, 891 monthly salaries should have their pay increased to Sh184,458.

In the proposal Kuppet, which now has 120,000 members, also wants a commuter allowance of between Sh8,500 and Sh20,000 while leave allowance should be between Sh43,694 and Sh141, 891. At the moment teachers get between Sh6,000 and Sh10,000 as leave allowance.

Kuppet also wants leave allowance equivalent to one month’s salary to be paid to teachers while house allowance should be harmonised across all grades.

As for house allowance, Kuppet is seeking between Sh16, 500 and Sh45, 000 while town allowance for Nairobi and county headquarters should be between Sh4,000 and Sh8,000.

Hardship allowance has been proposed at between Sh16,350 and Sh57,150. Currently teachers earn between Sh10,900 and Sh38,100 in hardship allowance.

“Hardship allowance shall be payable to teachers assigned duties in arid and semi-arid lands with an increment of 50percent from the current rates,” adds the document.

They also want an overtime pay of between Sh500 to Sh1,300 per hour.

The union wants commuter allowance increment of between 30 percent and 70 percent of the current pay while special allowance of Sh15,000 per month should be paid to teachers in special schools.

“Readers/facilitation /aid allowance shall be increased at the rate of 30percent of the current amount to Sh19,500 to the blind teachers and teachers confined to wheel chairs by virtue of their disability,” reads the document.

Kuppet is also seeking post graduate allowance for teachers with master’s and doctoral degree at the rate of 20percent and 40percent of the basic salary respectively.

The union is also seeking transfer allowance at the rate of one month’s basic salary where the shift has been initiated by the employer.