Lecturers on Monday got a raw deal in their push for a new employment agreement that would guarantee them better pay and working conditions.
The dons had yet to give a verdict on the offer given by university bosses on Monday after they resumed talks on the 2017-21 collective bargaining agreement.
Their talks had hit a snag. The university heads had proposed a six per cent increase in basic salary, which they rejected. The academic staff had a problem with a proposal for the new agreement to cover three years beginning 2019 as opposed to 2017 when the previous deal expired.
The deal is set to expire in 2021. The proposal had the ripple effect of denying them increased salaries and allowances that come with the new deal.
The University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) had a problem as the government offer lacked house allowance.
In Monday’s meeting, it emerged that the varsity bosses had accepted the lecturers’ demand to have the deal cover the five year period. This means soon after the deal is sealed, they will get arrears backdated to 2017.
However, the workers will not get the much-demanded housing allowance increase that has remained stagnant since 2013.
"It is a no deal yet... We've given the documents to our technical team who will brief us on Tuesday [today] before making our position on the government offer official," Uasu secretary-general Constantine Wasonga told the Star yesterday.
Uasu officials and members of the joint negotiations committee of the Inter- Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) attended the meeting.
University of Nairobi acting vice-chancellor Isaac Mbeche, who chairs the IPUCCF, tabled the offer.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission maintains that the university workers get higher housing allowances compared to their counterparts in the public service.
On Monday, the IPUCCF presented an annual increment of six per cent on the basic salary. Details of the offer show the four-year 2017-2021 CBA has been condensed into only three phases staggered between three years.
