Parents block January 5 teachers’ strike

KNUT and TSC have failed to reach an agreement prompting the strike action/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 2 – The planned teachers’ strike that was set for January 5, 2015 has now been stopped by the Industrial Court.

This is after the Kenya National Association of Parents (KNAP) obtained a court order blocking the strike.

Speaking at a press conference Friday, the association’s Secretary-General Musau Ndunda said all stakeholders involved in the matter have now been summoned to appear before court in a fortnight to explain why they have not been able to agree on teachers’ complaints and stop the strike.

“I have got an order and the strike has been stopped by the courts and they have been ordered to appear on 14th of this month,” Ndunda said.

Those to appear before the Industrial Court include officials from the Ministry of Education, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Labour Ministry.

The teachers have threatened to down their tools when schools re-open in efforts to push the government to honor their salary demands which they claim have been ignored.

KNUT has in the last two years been pushing for TSC to negotiate and register a Collective Bargaining Agreement, but are now agitated claiming that apart from postponing dialogue meetings, the government has also failed to honor previous agreements made through sighing of return to work formulae.

On Tuesday this week, TSC announced that it had an offer for teachers which would be made during a negotiations meeting on January 3.

Urging KNUT officials to attend, the teachers’ employer said negotiations were also supposed to form the basis for the signing of a complete and conclusive Collective Bargaining Agreement to cover the period July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2017.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has reiterated that all schools re-open on January 5, despite calls from KNUT officials to parents to desist from taking their children to school.

“All schools and colleges will open on Monday the 5th of January 2015 as scheduled, and teachers are expected to report to their duty stations accordingly,” read a statement from the ministry.

“We are optimistic that the on-going negotiations will bear fruits.”