SRC to negotiate public servants’ salaries

Written By:Judith Akolo,    Posted: Fri, Mar 30, 2012

Commission Chairperson Sarah Serem warned that the strikes are causing investor flight The trade union movement in the country stands to lose much of its clout with the coming into force of the Salaries and Remuneration commission. According to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission Regulations of 2012, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission will not be negotiating salaries of public servants with unions but with the employers. In the regulations released by the Kenya Law Reform Commission Secretary Joash Deche, item 17(1) is categorical that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission will not negotiate with trade unions and staff shall seek the advice of the Commission before the commencement of any collective bargaining processes, "with the respective union on the sustainability of the proposal of the union," says the new regulation. It further directs that where the collective bargaining if successful, the management shall before signing of the agreement, confirm the fiscal sustainability of the negotiated package of the Commission. Among a raft of proposals, the review of salaries will be pegged on components of remuneration; social, economic and environmental issues; results of job evaluation; key elopements and factors of pay for consideration; prevailing market rates from the results of comparative market surveys; existing collective bargaining agreements; specific and sustainability of compensation or proposed award to the organization, the job market and available budgetary provisions; performance or the productivity of the employee; benchmarks with similar organizations; equity and competitiveness. The review of allowances on the other hand will depend on existing legal provisions; comparative market surveys; prevailing market rates; justification for the allowances; best practices; objective of the allowances; affordability and sustainability among others. Speaking at the first stakeholders meeting, the Commission Chairperson Sarah Serem said industrial unrests witnessed in the country the past few months are a cause for alarm especially to the national economy which she said is already strained by internal and external shocks. "This trend is a cause for alarm not only to the government but also to managers and decision makers," said Serem, and added, "such stirkes are very costly to the developing economy like Kenya which has to deal with global trade imbalances, frequent prices rises in oil and high inflation." Serem warned that the strikes are causing investor flight, "no investor will be willing to invest in a country that is seen not to be stable and is prone to labour strikes that interfere with trade and economic activity." She said the regulations are seeking to build a public service that has a well defined personnel with requisite qualifications and attitude giving the level of productivity and service envisaged in the Constitution and the Vision 2030.