The University and College Union in the UK has written to Education CS Amina Mohammed urging her to expedite the resolution of lecturers’ CBA.
In a letter dated April 19, UCU Secretary General Sally Hunt said lack of any review of terms and conditions of employment including basic salaries, pension arrears, allowances and other schemes is a form of discrimination against university staff.
She expressed concern that lecturers resorted to strike due to lack of the Inter-Public Universities’ Council Consultative Forum to table a counteroffer to the 2017-21 CBA.
“UCU and UASU are concerned that various governmental institutions are undermining labour relations in the higher education sector in Kenya to the detriment of teaching staff,” Hunt said.
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She urged the ministry of education to appropriate funds and facilitate the IPUCCF to negotiate and implement the CBA.
The lecturer's strike has entered its 52nd day today.
On March 17, the Education International wrote a similar letter to Mohammed and urged her to expedite talks on the CBA.
The entity is the global federation of teachers representing over 400 education unions in 177 countries, including KNUT, KUPPET and the Universities’ Academic Staff Union, UASU.
Meanwhile, an inter-ministerial committee on university education has been set up to among other things, determine a sustainable counteroffer for the CBA.
The committee will be chaired by Prof Noah Midamba and co-chaired by Education PS Prof Japheth Ntiba.
The committee shall be served by a secretariat comprising officers drawn from the ministries of Education, Treasury, Public Service, Interior and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
It will also comprise members from the Retirement Benefits Authority and the Institute of Human Resource Management.
According to a gazette notice by CS Mohammed dated April 17, the committee will sit for a period of one month within which time it will prioritize talks on the CBA and submit a report within two weeks at the end of the one month.
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