Uasu suspends lecturers’ strike to allow for dialogue
Uasu National Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga who has said the union has suspended a strike that was to start on August 30, 2021 to allow for more talks with government representatives.
The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) has suspended the national strike that was slated to kick off today (Monday), which would have paralysed all the 35 public universities.
In a statement, Uasu National Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga said the union has decided to suspend the industrial action to allow for more talks with government representatives.
"Uasu national executive committee has directed that the union suspends its strike notice to give a final chance to dialogue," said Dr Wasonga.
The union’s top executive members held a crisis meeting on Sunday in Nairobi with the Principal Secretary for University Education and Research Simon Nabukwesi to review the progress on the conciliation process initiated by the Ministry of Labour in a bid to resolve the stalemate.
During the meeting, the parties involved agreed to review the outcome of the talks between the union and Inter-Public Universities Council Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) under the auspices of the National Implementation Committee (NIC) over the stalled implementation of the 2017-2021 collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
CBA implementation
Majority of the 35 public universities have not implemented the CBA, sparking calls for a work boycott by the Uasu national office through a strike notice issued on August 23 in line with the labour laws.
While suspending the strike, Dr Wasonga noted that the NIC has agreed that all public universities immediately submit to it returns for purposes of audit and enforcement of the compliance with the 2017-2021 CBA.
The union also called for a review of the orders of the Employment and Labour Relations Court issued on August 26.
Dr Wasonga thanked the union members for their readiness to fight for the "dignity of the dons".
The suspension of the strike is a big relief to public universities as it would have paralysed their operations at a time when majority of them are reeling in massive debts running into billions of shillings.
The strike would have also affected the First Year students who are supposed to join the institutions in September.
