KNUT & KUPPET battle for 40000 JSS teachers
KNUT & KUPPET battle for 40000 JSS teachers
To grow their membership base, two teaching unions are engaged in a covert struggle to recruit elementary school instructors.
The 39,550 instructors assigned to the JSS would boost any union’s membership and provide substantial monthly union dues contributions to the groups.
Acting leaders of the JSS teachers’ lobby told the Nation that they had received approaches from the Kenya Post-Primary Teachers Union (Kuppet) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), offering them a chance to join their ranks after the Teachers Services Commission (TSC) had approved their application for permanent and pensionable employment.
ost-secondary institutions.
In total, there are 219,727 teachers in primary schools and 125,563 in secondary schools. Union membership is voluntary and not all teachers are members.
In addition to the contributions paid by members, non-member teachers who benefit from agreements negotiated by the unions pay them monthly agency fees. JSS lobby leaders said the teachers would not join either union but would instead form their own union. The lobby mobilized teachers to strike for better conditions.
ass while they negotiated on our behalf and asked us to join the union. Kuppet encourages us to fight for our rights so that when we win, we can join them,” Mr. Omari Omari, spokesperson for the lobby, told the Nation.
“Kuppet agreed to support us and offered to train us in negotiation techniques before a meeting with the National Assembly Labor Committee. We appreciate their offer, but our members demand to have their own union because they feel that they do not belong to Knut or Kuppet,” Mr. Omari said.
Kuppet has written to the TSC, National Treasury, as well as the Budget and Education committees seeking their intervention on behalf of teachers.
Lobby coordinator for Westlands sub-county, Mr John Melvin, said teachers would not return to the classroom without a return to work package.
“What is being said about our employment in July is political propaganda. Knut does not want us to demonstrate but Kuppet has offered us support, especially in counties outside Nairobi. We are alone, but there is no way we can join Knut,” he said.
Knut’s general secretary, Collins Oyuu, told the Nation he had met with those responsible and asked them to call off the strike.
“sat down multiple times with them. After we (Knut) took charge, we invited them to come back to class. Your case has been resolved, and you will be absorbed without maintenance in July. Mr. Oyuu stated, “They are operating outside the law right now, and I know who is instigating them,” however he refrained from naming the alleged provocateur.
In order to remove the “show cause” letters that were delivered to instructors who abstained from class, he continued, the union is in negotiations with the TSC. Following National Assembly Education Committee Chairman Tinderet MP Julius Melly’s statement that Sh4.3 billion had been allotted to the TSC to permanently employ 26,000 teachers who are currently under contract, Mr. Oyuu called on teachers last week to end their protest. That omits another 20,000.
Nonetheless, Ndindi Nyoro, the chairman of the Committee on Budget and Appropriations, informed Parliament on May 29 that the committee had suggested spending Sh10 billion to ensure that all 46,000 teachers had pensions and permanent jobs.
