Image: SOLOMON MUINGI
Taita Taveta University lecturers and workers on Tuesday said they will only return to work after their demands are met.
They went on strike on Thursday last week over delayed implementation of a 2017-21 collective bargaining agreement on basic salary increment.
The CBA was negotiated and agreed between the government and university unions.
The more than 400 striking workers are drawn from the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU), the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU) and Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA).
“Our members are demanding total implementation of national CBA 2017-21, which should bring a diagonal salary mapping of staff. Further, we want an enhanced commuter and leave allowances for all workers,” the university’s UASU secretary-general Patrick Kimaku said.
He said the workers were also demanding the promotion of all deserving staff members.
Kimaku said workers have been demoralised by the delayed implementation of the CBA and called upon the university administration to increase their salaries.
“Other universities have fully implemented the said CBA. We do not understand why the administration has remained quiet here. We cannot continue suffering while offering services,” Kimaku added.
UASU branch chairman Richard Kasomo said the workers will continue picketing until their grievances are addressed by the university council.
“The administration has given us a deaf ear since we raised our concerns. We shall therefore peacefully picket until the university council comes to address us,” he said.
KUSU branch treasurer Mwanajuma Chala called for speedy procurement of a university ambulance and improvement of working environment.
“We need protective gear, working tools, uniforms and habitable offices. The institution does not have an ambulance, which is very disturbing,” she said.
Efforts by vice-chancellor Simiyu Barasa to address the demonstrating workers were unsuccessful as they booed and walked away.
Barasa warned the workers against disrupting the ongoing end-of-semester exams.
He said the institution has only received Sh45 million to pay salary increment arrears for up to July 2020.
Edited by A.N