CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Yvonne Sampoda, Kenya, December 1998
THEME = EDUCATION
1998 was the year of the great teachers'
strike.
The strike lasted for 15 days, and then
Kenya National Union of Teachers
officials suspended the strike action
What caused the strike? On 5 October 1998, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) called on its 260,000 strong secondary and primary school teachers, to "down tools". The government had failed to implement the second phase of the three-phase salary increment which had been recommended by the Teachers Service Remuneration Committee (TSRC) and accepted by the government. This was way back in 1997.
In 1997, the TSRC, chaired by Dr.Taitta Toweet, had recommended pay rises for teachers that increased the minimum pay for the lowest paid teacher from Kenya Shillings 1,880 to Kenya Shillings 5,640. The increments would also increase the salary of the highest paid teachers from Kenya Shillings 19,115 to about Kenya Shillings 42,000.
Salary increments ranged between 150% to 200%. This also included increases in various allowances. The first phase included a 25%-45% salary rise, a 35% rise in housing allowances, a 15% rise in medical allowances, a 100% rise in responsibility allowances, a 10% rise in "special allowances" and a 30% rise in "hardship allowances".
In the second phase, due in July 1998, the teachers were to have received a salary rise of between 35%-45%. This was also to have included a 10% rise is housing allowances, a 5% rise in medical allowances and a 150% rise in "responsibility allowances".
The strike came when Form Four and Standard Eight students were about to sit their final national examinations, and many parents resented the strike action taken by the teachers at this important moment in their children's lives. Parents who beforehand had supported the teachers in their demands for better pay, saw the strike as something which was going to have a direct bearing on their children's future, as it would affect their examination results. Many parents felt that this time, teachers had chosen the wrong moment to go on strike and so could not support them.
Looking at the problem from the teachers' side, one teacher put it this way: "Teachers are justified in taking strike action because the government was wholly to blame for not fulfilling its promises. The government had paid the first phase of the salary awards, but it wasn't right for the government to say it had no money to pay the rest.
The teachers' salary award in 1997 pushed the teachers wage bill to about Kenya Shillings 34.6 billion per year. The second schedule in July 1998 would have pushed the wage bill to about Kenya Shillings 50 billion.
Mr Ken Odhiambo is a teacher at Nyaisa Secondary School in Nyamira District, Nyanza province. He says the KNUT is the only remaining powerful trade union and if the government succeeds in humbling it, then workers in most sectors of industry can be quite certain that the future of all trade unions will be a bleak one and the unions will be helpless before the government. The increasing militancy amongst workers is now beginning to cause some concern amongst employers. According to Mr. Owour, Executive Director of the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), in 1997, Kenya lost 317,326 working days due to strikes, a fact which translates into a loss of about 2,538,608 working hours.
He said that most of the strikes were called by shop stewards - which proves there is a growing disenchantment with the union's national office bearers. Obviously, strikes are not good for the economy especially in a country such as Kenya where 50% of the population is believed to be living below the poverty line, and the economy is experiencing a steady downward trend. Increasing strike action is bound to drive away much needed investors.
An editorial in one of the National dailies notes the unions are taking advantage of the more liberal political environment to demand ever-higher wages. The unions are dominated by those who think their sole purpose is to mobilise workers for wage- negotiations. Union officials also have to ensure that their members are able to make a positive contribution to the community.
With the country's infrastructure collapsing and the economy in a shambles, the growing unemployment figures paint a grim future to the majority of Kenyans who are finding it increasingly hard to put a square meal on the table, meet medical expenses, and continue maintaining their children in schools.
The teachers' strike ended without any tangible results. This is going to affect their performance in school and consequently, their pupils' well-being. And so the lingering question: "Which way forward?"
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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