TSC KNUT Deal: Details of a secret deal that was signed between the Teachers Service Commission and the Kenya National Union of Teachers in July 2021 can now be revealed. According to a report that appeared in a local daily, the deal prohibits teachers who don’t practice at primary school level from joining KNUT. It also instructs that KNUT cut down on its branches, and locks out head teachers from benefits.
According to the report, TSC got the upper hand in the deal. In the deal, “KNUT finally agreed that its members could now be promoted in line with the Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs) that have been a bone of contention between the union and the TSC,” the report that appeared in the Daily Nation said.
In 2019, Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled that KNUT members would not be subjected to the CPGs. Instead, they would be promoted according to the Schemes of Service for Teachers. This ruling and the decision by KNUT to stick with schemes of service as the mode of promotion saw teachers under KNUT left out of promotions.
“To standardise the terms and conditions of service and align the grading structure with the job evaluation results of 2016, parties hereby mutually agree to replace the Schemes of Service for Teachers and to formally adopt the provisions of CPGs as per the employer’s Circular No.7 of 2018,” part of the TSC KNUT deal was quoted by the daily.
The deal locked out headteachers from joining KNUT. This means that KNUT will only be representing primary school teachers “Parties mutually agree that a headteacher and/or a teacher acting in the position of a headteacher shall not be a member of the union,” the deal signed reads. “Member refers to a primary school teacher who does not fall under the defined constituency of any other union and have successfully subscribed to the union.”
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KNUT is currently a shadow of its former self. The union’s membership has reduced from 187,000 who used to earn it Sh. 144 million monthly in union dues, to a paltry 15,000 contributing Sh. 11 million.
