New team at Knut should thaw TSC ties

Collins Oyuu

Newly elected Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Collins Oyuu addressing the media at Ruaraka Sports Club on June 26, 2021. 

Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • The importance of unions in giving workers a collective voice cannot be gainsaid.
  • But an enervated union will lead to loss of the all-important dialogue between workers and their employer.

Following the surprise Friday exit of the fiery Wilson Sossion as secretary-general, Collins Oyuu has taken the helm at the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut). 

Having been the Knut chairman, Mr Oyuu is cognizant of the purpose of a trade union: Securing for its members improvements in pay, benefits, working conditions or social and political status through collective bargaining.

The importance of unions in giving workers a collective voice cannot be gainsaid. But an enervated union will lead to loss of the all-important dialogue between workers and their employer. The new officials are representatives of teachers as much as their predecessors.

Teachers account for the backbone of the educational system and their status is of critical significance to national development. It’s within new Knut leadership’s realm to advance their welfare in a style that they have designed. Teachers will look upon them to bargain aggressively for restitution for their services.

Role of trade unions

Sossion may have taken the abrasive route but he has left a legacy. We musts understand that employers and unions are usually on opposite sides of the bargaining table, representing divergent interests, and so their relationship can sometimes be quite adversarial. However, both can gain more out of their interactions if they improved their working relationship.

Therefore, the new team in the Knut office can create a cordial relationships with TSC with the mutual aim of improving educational performance, which would, in turn, benefit both the teachers and their employer. More importantly, they take office amid the Covid-19 pandemic, when teachers and students should ensure enhanced safety measures.

Good leadership is usually felt in times of crises. Employers and the government should appreciate the role of trade unions because eroded unions and worker power generally lead to suffering and extreme economic inequalities, which is detrimental to economic development.

Dr Kapkiai (PhD) is a lecturer in the school of Education and Human Resource Development at Kisii University. [email protected].