The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has turned down a request from the employer body,Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) for another round of talks over a looming strike.
Speaking in Siaya, KNUT National Assistant Secretary General Collins Oyuu said the union will only engage in talks with the employer after the court delivers a verdict on the dispute between the two parties.
This comes after TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia last week wrote a second letter to KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion inviting them for a discussion on the contentious issues.
“The union is not ready for such a meeting. We cannot meet TSC after the length of progress we have made both in the courts and at the conciliation process,” said Mr. Oyuu.
“We are objecting the call for another round of talks because we feel that this is just a process to derail the process in court.”
The KNUT chief, who spoke at Siaya Central Primary School after the union’s Siaya branch by-election for the post of Executive Secretary, also called on teachers to exercise calmness while waiting for the court ruling.
The conciliation committee which was established to arbitrate on the dispute between the two parties presented their report and the court is therefore expected to give its verdict any time in February.
This comes barely weeks after The Kenya National Union of Teachers officially joined COTU.The decision was arrived at during Knut’s 61st Annual Delegates Conference held last year, secretary general Wilson Sossion had said adding that the move will unite all workers in the country.