Who said that teachers can only work in their home counties ?
The teachers’ union (KNUT) has once again issued a strike notice over alleged violation of labour rights by their employer, teachers service commission.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) said the job boycott, which may see all public schools fail to re-open, will start on January 2, 2019.
“Merry Christmas… but we can’t promise you that the new year will start well… parents should adjust their budgets very well because Christmas will be extended into the new year,” Knut chairman Wilson Sossion said as he announced the industrial action in Nairobi.
Mr Sossion, in a televised press conference, accused the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) of “de-professionalising the teaching profession”.
He cited TSC’s failure to promote teachers as one of the four reasons for the strike notice addressed to Labour Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani.
TSC, he said, had refused to move teachers up the the job-grade ladder based on merit, qualifications, long service and exceptional performance in their work.
In August , the Teachers Service Commission denied a claim by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) that it will promote more than 30,000 teachers who had acquired higher degrees.
In a press statement, head of corporate communication Kihumba Kimotho said there are no pending cases of promotion to be effected.
Mr Kimotho added that promotions will only be done when due and within the 2017-2021 collective bargaining agreement framework signed between TSC and the Knut.
Mr Sossion further alleged that Knut was also angered by TSC CEO Nancy Macharia’s decision to transfer more than 3,000 head-teachers “irregularly”.
“The transfers, Knut can authoritatively reveal, were effected without the approval of the TSC appointment board,” he claimed.
TSC announced the transfers just a day after the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) wrote a protest letter to the commission, asking it to stop transfers of the head teachers.
The transfers come a year after 1,065 principals were shuffled in a controversial delocalisation programme by the commission, leading to protests from education stakeholders who attracted the attention of President Kenyatta.
KNUT issues teachers strike notice over alleged violation of labour rights by TSC; Wilson Sossion says job boycott to start on January 2, 2019. pic.twitter.com/4gZ2xfpO8c
— Dennis Okari (@DennisOkari) December 19, 2018
It is alleged that TSC is in execution of teacher de-localisation policy that seeks to uproot head-teachers from their home counties.
“This policy has broken families,” Mr Sossion said as he vowed to not to call off the strike until the transfers are reversed.
Those affected by the transfers are head teachers of primary and secondary schools who have stayed in one station for more than nine years.
Why cant teachers work from anywhere in this country?