Striking teachers to receive warning letters

The Teachers Service Commission on Sunday instructed county directors to issue warning letters to striking teachers.

The officials were issued with guidelines on punishing teachers who will be absent from Monday.

In a memo, TSC acting Director of Teacher Management Mary Rotich asked the directors to “intensify” monitoring of schools to ensure no teacher absconds duty.

“Prompt action should be taken in all cases of professional misconduct,” she said.

The official attached templates of disciplinary letters to be used.

She was referring to a circular issued by TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia that called for “elaborate surveillance mechanisms” in schools after teachers announced that they would go on strike from Wednesday last week.

'NO MORAL AUTHORITY'

The commission had advised headteachers and education directors to ensure union activities were not conducted in schools.

Although the TSC asked schools to resume their normal programmes, teachers vowed to continue with their strike.

Yesterday, Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) officials asked members to “proceed with countrywide demonstrations as planned”.

Kuppet Deputy Secretary-General Moses Nthurima and National Treasurer Njenga Mwethi told reporters in Nairobi that the commission has no “moral authority” to order teachers back to classrooms because it had disobeyed a court order validating their demand for a salary increase.

“The TSC has no moral authority to lecture teachers on how to follow the law.

“It has disobeyed the court, which is vested with powers to interpret the law,” said Mr Nthurima.

STRIKE 'UNPROTECTED'

Kuppet, which has joined forces with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), last week announced that tutors would go on strike after the commission refused to pay their salary dues as directed by the Employment and Labour Relations Court.

The court issued an order for teachers to be paid an increase of between 50 and 60 per cent.

But the TSC rushed to court, arguing that a notice to go on strike should have been given, as required by the law.

It also insisted that the raise should only be determined by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

On Friday last week, Justice Monica Mbaru declared the industrial action by Knut and Kuppet members “unprotected”, and asked the parties in the case to return to court on Thursday for further hearing.

Although “unprotected” does not necessarily mean “illegal”, TSC chairman Lydia Nzomo told reporters on Saturday that the labour court had in effect made the teachers’ strike illegal.

EMPLOYMENT LAWS

“Teachers who participate in an unprotected strike cannot claim the protection of employment laws when the employer commences disciplinary action, including dismissal from the service,” Dr Nzomo told a press conference in Nairobi.

Both Kuppet and Knut disagreed with the commission on this aspect, and said they would defend the strike during the hearing.

“Teachers are currently under the orders of their union and not their employer. It is only themselves who can initiate a lockout,” said Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion.