• Uasu is also pushing for the retirement age of academic staff be set at 74.
• The union also wants the national government to create a kitty that will act as their security in securing car loans and mortgages.
University lecturers with a master's degree will get the lowest salary increment in the proposed deal fronted by the government on Monday.
The document presented to the University Academic Staff Union indicates that whereas all other academic staff will be enjoying at least a 5.4 per cent increase in their basic salary, their counterparts in job group 12A — will only get a three per cent raise.
The job group mainly comprises long-serving master's degree holders with at least six years of active teaching and a couple of research publications.
New government regulations require all dons to have PhD qualifications.
Uasu said those in job group 12A will be casualties of a rationalisation process to cap the salaries that previously were above those with qualifications higher than them.
The proposal is part of the ongoing negotiation that will inform the next working deal for the academic staff between 2017 and 2022.
Uasu secretary-general Constantine Wasonga on Tuesday said the union will decide whether to accept the government offer.
Academic workers in the universities are grouped into five job groups 10A, 11A, 12A, 13A, 14A, and 15A, depending on their academic achievement and years of experience.
Senior staff — professors and associate professors — are in job groups 15A and 14A respectively. They will get the highest salary raise. In both job groups, one is required to have a PhD.
Analysis of the figures reveals that those in job group 14A will get Sh34,896 more in their monthly basic salaries when the CBA finally expires in 2021.
Those in job group 15A will get a monthly basic salary increase of Sh39,012 at the end of the deal.
The lowest job group is 10A and accommodates graduate assistants. These fellas are bachelor degree holders who have enrolled for Master’s programmes.
In the proposed deal, their basic salary will increase by Sh10,752 at the end of the deal. They are followed closely by assistant lecturers who are Master’s degree holders and have enrolled for PhD courses. They are mainly accommodated in the job group 11A and in the proposed deal, their monthly salaries will go up by at least Sh14,244 by the end of their CBA.
Currently, those in this job group earn at least Sh83,598. Lecturers and senior lecturers are placed in job groups 12A and 13A respectively. Senior lecturers will be required to have a PhD qualification or a Master’s degree and at least nine years of experience.
The CBA will be implemented in four phases. Nonmonetary concerns that will also be placed on the table today. The union will be pushing for the retirement age of academic staff in universities be pushed to 74.
Currently, each university council sets the retirement age of its staff. In Kenyatta University, for example, the retirement age is 75, while in Egerton, it is 65.
A source familiar with the union's plans said it wants the government to create a kitty that will act as their security in securing car loans and mortgages.
Their concern is that the car loans and mortgage pacts negotiated by individual universities cannot guarantee security because of the worrying debt situation of many public universities. This makes it impossible for the staff to get such loans.