Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) has called off their strike after meeting the Cabinet Secretary for Labour where they signed a return-to-work formula.
Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Labour and Social Protection Dr. Alfred Mutua who held talks with the inter-ministerial committee to discuss mechanisms of ending strike by lecturers and other university staff announced that the signing of the agreement requires all university staff to resume the core business of impacting knowledge in a harmonious way.
The inter-ministerial committee included representatives from the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Education, the National Treasury, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, public universities, the State Corporations Advisory Committee, and the two university academic unions.
The CS who held the meeting at the Ministry’s Headquarters at NSSF building, said some of the issues being discussed could have been presented to the ministry a long time ago, among them court cases whose documents will be filed as part of evidence of the ongoing negotiation in order to do away with some of the items.
“We need to have a country where employees feel that they work in a fair environment that is predictable and they are respected, they can complain and address issues in a good way,” he said.
Dr. Mutua added that when employees are provided with a fair environment they will gain confidence in employers and the result will be a balanced and harmonious country where development can be achieved.
The CS announced that during the meeting, it was agreed that the union shall immediately call off the industrial action, no member of the union shall face the victimization or disciplinary action for participating in the industrial action, and that employees of various unions and their constituent colleges shall collaborate with the employer to establish the plan for recovering what was lost during the strike period.
“For academic staff, the employer shall pay the basic monthly salary as per the rate advised by the government,” stressed.
The CS said the basic salary for grade 13A, 14A and 15A will be at 7 percent, while for grade 10A, 11A and 12A will be at 10 percent, Thanking the National Treasury for allocating additional funds to enable the committee to strike the deal.
Initially the National Treasury had set aside Sh1.6 billion and added Sh800 million to bring the figure to Sh2.4 billion as a startup to take care of the pending issues.
“Automatic annual increment shall be computed at 4 percent of the basic salaries for the three years of the CBAs cycle 2025 which will commence on 1st July 2023,” he said, adding that the retirement for the academic staff including, graduate assistant lecturers, regular assistant and tutorial fellows has been set at 70 years.
Senior Lecturers, Lecturers, Associate professors and Professors are set to retire at the age of 74 years while for KUSU employees’ staff teaching laboratories and librarians are set to retire at the age of 65 years and those with existing contracts will remain until their retirement contractual period.
Mutua at the same time announced that the Inter-Ministerial Committee shall sit for one month beginning 1st October, 2024 to resolve pending issues among them the harmonization of other allowances, medical cover, internal CBAs, enhanced staffing in public universities and their constituent university colleges, budget for promotions, budget for car loan and mortgage scheme.
“This Agreement shall be effective from 1st July, 2021 and shall remain in force for a period of 4 years, and shall continue to be in force until it is amended by mutual Agreement between the two parties,” said the CS.
He said that for the avoidance of doubt, the Recognition Agreement dated 28th October, 2019 remains binding on all public universities and their constituent university colleges under Inter Public Universities Councils Consultative Forums (IPUCCF) and KUSU, including its branches, until a new recognition agreement is negotiated and brought into effect which shall take effect immediately upon signing.
In her remarks the Principal Secretary, State Department for higher Education and Research, Ministry of Education Beatrice Inyangala termed the strike as the shortest at the university sector, noting that the government has put the University staff welfare as its top agenda and assured that academic programs will resume after the signing of the return-to-work formula.
The Chairman of IPUCCF and Vice Chancellor Taita Taveta University Prof. Fred Barasa said the engagement between the unions with the intervention of government at all levels has led to a mutual agreement, adding that IPUCCF will implement what has been agreed upon and acknowledge the government for working hard to restore the normalcy at the universities.
By Sharon Atieno
