Kuppet and Knut wage silent war for 40,000 JSS teachers.
While Kuppet members primarily come from post-secondary institutions, Knut members are primarily drawn from elementary schools. There are 219,727 primary school teachers and 125,563 secondary school teachers overall.
In an effort to grow their membership, two teachers’ unions are engaged in a covert struggle to recruit junior school teachers to their cause.
The 39,550 instructors assigned to JSS would increase any union’s membership and make monthly union dues contributions to the organizations substantial sums of money.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) have approached the JSS teachers’ lobby, interim officials told the Nation, offering them positions in their organizations upon approval of their demand for permanent and pensionable employment by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
While Kuppet members primarily come from post-secondary institutions, Knut members are primarily drawn from elementary schools.
There are 219,727 primary school teachers and 125,563 secondary school teachers overall. It is not mandatory for all instructors to subscribe as members of a union.
Non-member teachers who gain from agreements struck by the unions pay them agency fees on a monthly basis in addition to dues paid by members.
The teachers will create their own union rather than joining any of the existing ones, according to representatives of the JSS campaign. Teachers have been mobilized by the lobby to go on strike in demand of improved terms.
Knut offers no assistance.
Hundreds of educators protested in front of the TSC headquarters in Upper Hill, Nairobi, on Wednesday.
“Knut hasn’t offered us any support at all. Rather than that, they have been urging us to return to class while they represent us in negotiations and ask us to become union members. Kuppet has been pushing us to stand up for our rights so that, if we succeed, we can follow in their footsteps,” the lobby’s representative, Mr. Omari Omari, told The Nation.
“Kuppet has expressed a willingness to assist us and has volunteered to provide us with negotiation skills training prior to our meeting with the National Assembly Labour Committee.
We are grateful for their offer, but our members believe they belong to Kuppet or Knut, thus they are calling for the creation of their own union,” Mr. Omari stated.
In an effort to advocate for the teachers, Kuppet has written to the TSC, the National Treasury, the Budget, and the Education committees.
According to Mr. John Melvin, the lobby coordinator for Westlands Sub-county, teachers won’t be going back to class without a return-to-work schedule.
“What is being alleged is political propaganda regarding our employment in July. Although Kuppet has promised us assistance, particularly in places outside of Nairobi, Knut does not want us to demonstrate. We’re not going to join Knut, but we’re on our own,” he declared.
Collins Oyuu, the Knut Secretary-General, told the Nation that he had met with the authorities and requested that they end the strike.
Return to the classroom.
“I’ve had multiple seats with them. After we [Knut] intervened, we told them to return to class. Your issue has been resolved, and you will be absorbed without an interview in July. Mr. Oyuu stated, “At the moment, they’re operating outside the law, and I know who’s inciting them,” however he would not identify the accused instigator.
In order to remove the “show cause” letters sent to instructors who have abstained from class, he continued, the union is in negotiations with the TSC.
Following the declaration last week by Julius Melly, the Tinderet MP and chair of the National Assembly Committee on Education, that the TSC had been given Sh4.3 billion to hire 26,000 currently contracted teachers on a permanent basis, Mr. Oyuu encouraged the teachers to end their protest. Twenty thousand more are left out.
However, Ndindi Nyoro, the chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, informed Parliament on May 29 that the committee has suggested spending Sh10 billion to ensure that all 46,000 teachers have permanent and pensionable jobs.
Kuppet and Knut wage silent war for 40,000 JSS teachers.
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