• Raila said that TSC must appreciate its responsibility to support and protect teacher professionalism.
• He said that teachers are not happy with the current threats from their employer, who is about to bring to its knees the movement built from the scratch since 1957.
ODM party leader Raila Odinga has asked the Teachers Service Commission and the teacher’s umbrella Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) to find the solution to their stalemate.
In a statement, Raila said on Thursday that the stand-off is of no benefit to any party in the long chain of education stakeholders.
He said that TSC, in its intentional action is on the move to kill Knut.
“As of today, membership of Knut has shrunk from a high of 187,000 to 23,000. Its income has dwindled from Sh144 million to Sh15 million against a salary portfolio of Sh80 million for over 600 workers spread across the country,” Raila said.
He said that teachers are not happy with the current threats from their employer, who is about to bring to its knees the movement built from the scratch since 1957.
Raila said that there is no indication that TSC will implement the 2017-2021 Comprehensive Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which was demanded by Knut and sanctioned by the court.
He added that TSC has shown no indication to gazette the agency fee for Knut in liaison with the Ministry of Labour.
In the spirit of the difficult times that the country has found itself at, Raila has called upon TSC and Knut to go back to the negotiation table and go through the court’s rulings and the resolutions of the Parliament.
“The parties don’t need to be permanently in court or at war. In fact, the courts have asked the two parties to negotiate.”
He has further said that TSC must appreciate its responsibility to support and protect teacher professionalism.
The Central Organisation of Trade Unions had earlier on warnedTSC not to terminate its Collective Bargaining Agreement with Knut.
Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli declared that any attempts by the TSC to defy its CBA and revoke its Recognition Agreement (RA) will be met with full force.