Sunday, December 25, 2011

Was State playing games with lecturers?



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By BENJAMIN MUINDI bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, December 24  2011 at  22:30
Fresh pay talks between lecturers and universities have collapsed after the government side called off a meeting where it was expected to table its salary proposals.
The meeting, that was expected last Wednesday, was a culmination of two weeks of secret talks in Nakuru.
The offer was to be unveiled by the chairman of Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) and University of Nairobi deputy vice-chancellor, Prof Peter Mbithi, alongside representatives of each of the seven universities and their constituent colleges.
But the officials failed to turn up, leaving representatives of the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) waiting in vain.
“The chairman of the vice-chancellors, Prof Barasa Wangila, later called our secretary-general informing him that the deal wouldn’t succeed after all,” Uasu chairman Sammy Kubasu said on Saturday.
Prof Wangila, the Masinde Muliro University VC, he said, informed the officials that the government had changed its mind until the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) was operational.
“We are extremely disappointed,” Prof Kubasu said on the phone. “The government had all along duped them into calling off their strike for nothing in return.”
“We had signed a very clear return-to-work agreement when we called off the strike to engage in negotiations until we reach a deal,” Prof Kubasu said on behalf of the 7,000 members.
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He noted that even when the salaries team was finally operational, it would not engage the lecturers in any negotiations but rather offer advisory role.
“The government is not serious with us and we are going back to the drawing board to come up with a fresh plan on how our demands will be met.”
He said the government gave by one hand only to take the offer through the other hand, adding: “It looks like it is happy when there are strikes all over the country.”
The lecturers, alongside their non-teaching staff, had last month staged a week-long strike paralysing learning in public universities. (READ: More varsities set to close as strike enters sixth day)
Treasury would pay
But they called off the strike after Labour minister John Munyes brokered an agreement that saw the unions and the IPUCCF get down to negotiations.
Higher Education assistant minister Kilemi Mwiria had said that the Treasury had agreed to set aside funds for salaries of the lecturers to be reviewed.
Uasu is seeking implementation of a new structure that will double the basic pay of lecturers and improve their allowances.
It proposes to raise the pay of a professor to a maximum of Sh400,000, up from the current 165,000 a month, and a new house allowance of Sh95,000, up from Sh64,000.
An associate professor’s salary would rise to Sh298,000, moving from Sh135,000, and a house allowance of Sh85,000 against Sh58,000.
A senior lecturer would earn Sh221,000 and a house allowance of Sh75,000, lecturer Sh165,000 and a house allowance of Sh70,000 and an assistant lecturer Sh121,000 plus Sh55,000 for housing.
Similarly, pay for a graduate assistant lecturer — the lowest paid — should rise to Sh78,000 and Sh45,000 for housing from the current Sh40,000 and Sh30,000 for housing a month.
The lecturers also have other benefits such as medical insurance, leave, and book allowances, which varies from one university to another.
Unlike the university lecturers who will have to wait for another time to have their demands met, doctors and teachers were among civil servants who gained out of the agitation that rocked the country in the last quarter of this year.
Only two weeks ago, the doctors walked away with a deal that saw each one of them offered a strenuous allowance amounting to nearly Sh100,000 but in two phases, while the government agreed to employ 200 doctors immediately.

On the other hand, teachers brokered their deal in September, ending week-long strike. The deal was a culmination of frantic efforts made by the government seeking a formula to end the strike.
At first they had rejected an offer to increase the allowance by Sh50,000 a month, forcing the government to increase the amount from Sh1.35 billion to Sh1.9 billion for first phase and Sh5.2 billion for second one.
As part of the agreement, the 18,060 teachers on contract will be given permanent jobs next month.

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