About 5,900 teachers in non-member special needs schools of the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) will be deducting an agency fee of 1.45 percent per month from their basic pay from February this year.
This happened when Labor Relations Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui gazetted the fee on January 5, 2022, vide Legal Notice No. 10 of 2022, directing the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) to provide services to them by the union. Initiate deduction of agency fee within 30 days. with orders.
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“The Teachers Service Commission shall deduct an amount equal to 1.45 per cent of the basic pay of an employee per month for every employee who is not a member of the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers or any other trade union, but is covered by the employment and the collective bargaining agreement registered by the Court of Labor Relations on August 27, 2021 as RCA No. 87 of 2021,” reads the gazette notice.
The union has already notified the TSC in a letter addressed to the Commission’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Nancy Macharia on January 21, 2022 by Union Secretary General James Torom.
It began in June last year after the union signed the first Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) covering the 2021-2025 period, with no pay hikes, although Torom told Education News that they would continue with the CBA. were mutually agreed with the employer to review the facility within one year in increments for which they have already started pushing.
The union was insisting on a pay hike between 50 per cent and 60 per cent on their basic pay and enhanced allowances, where if their proposal would be accepted by the TSC, the basic pay of the lowest teacher in grade B5 would be carried forward from the present. Will go Sh 21,756 to Sh 34,810 at minimum, and current Sh 27,195 to Sh 43,512 at maximum.
The highest teachers in grade D5 can see their salaries rising from the current Sh 131,380 at the minimum to Sh 197,070 and from the current Sh 157,656 at the maximum to Sh 236,484.
The union was recognized by the TSC early last year as a body representing the interests of special needs education teachers in the commission’s employment and who are paid members of the union.
In 2011 Mr Torom registered the union through the Labor Board with him as the first member as it took time to gather more members.
The union was formed to agitate for all Special Needs Education (SNE) matters, viz; Advocating for better employment terms and conditions for SNE teachers, promoting SNE in Kenya and reaching out to the parents of the SNE learner as key stakeholders in the effort to respond to the challenges in SNE
