• TSC withheld the dues that was to be remitted to the union for the month of July
• KUNT boss Sossion termed the move by the employer as a breach to the constitution and labor laws.
Image: FILE
The Teachers Service Commission has withheld teacher's July fees to their union, setting the stage for conflict with their lobby.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers yesterday said the employer had failed to remit deductions from the more than 200,000 teachers.
Teachers contribute 2 per cent of their salaries to support union welfares.
Knut collects about Sh1.6 billion per year with Sh135 million being collected monthly from 206,000 primary school teachers.
This is the latest in a series of conflicts between the TSC and teachers unions in Kenya including Knut.
Unions believe that TSC's failure to pay up union dues is a deliberate attempt to sabotage them.
“These are disturbing developments that are being perpetuated by the government against the Constitution and the labour laws," Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion told the Star yesterday.
The move could further complicate matters for the union by paralysing payment of salaries and office rents.
Sossion termed the move an abuse of teachers’ rights. He said Knut had yesterday called an emergency meeting with its lawyers to discuss the matter that threatens to cripple its operations.
“TSC and the government have breached the ILO convention, which protects the rights and obligations of independent and free trade unions by denying us dues,” he said.
Sossion said TSC's actions were signs of a failed state that does not respect the rule of law.
On Tuesday, the TSC announced it had struck Sossion out of the teachers' register.
TSC notified him that he was being removed from teachers’ register for allegedly disrupting the Competency-Based Curriculum workshops in 11 centres in April.
The teachers' employer said Sossion was behind the failure by teachers to show up for training in Kakamega, Bungoma, Kajiado, Machakos, Garissa, Siaya, Kisii, Nyamira, Vihiga and Kwale.
“Pursuant to termination of your services as a teacher with TSC, I am directed to say that the commission has determined that your name be removed from the register of teachers from July 29, 2019,” the letter sent by Mary Rotich, on behalf of TSC CEO Nancy Macharia, read.
The letter stemmed from a judgement by the Employment and Labour Relations Court, which found that TSC had a right to kick out Sossion for joining politics.
(edited by O. Owino)