UASU rejects Sh4.3bn offer, demand Sh9.7bn pay as lecturers’ strike continue
By Lucy Mumbi |
The dispute escalated when a scheduled meeting between UASU representatives and Members of Parliament, intended to address the pay deadlock, was cancelled on Tuesday.
The University Academic Staff Union (UASU) has rejected the government’s Sh4.3 billion verbal offer aimed at ending the lecturers’ strike, which has now entered its second week.
Instead, the union has stood firm on its demand for Sh9.7 billion, as stipulated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed in September 2024.
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The dispute escalated when a scheduled meeting between UASU representatives and Members of Parliament, intended to address the pay deadlock, was cancelled on Tuesday.
The meeting fell apart after the Inter-Public Universities Council Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) failed to present official documentation supporting the Sh4.3 billion proposal.
During a session with the National Assembly Education Committee, chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, UASU Secretary-General Constantine Wesonga emphasised that the union would not consider any amount less than the Sh9.7 billion specified in the CBA.
"The union wishes to be shown how the CBA has been implemented. Let us not deviate from how we have been implementing our CBAs by bringing in new parameters," Wesonga said.
Professor Fred Simiyu Barasa, chair of IPUCCF's joint negotiation committee, acknowledged the absence of a formal document authorising the Sh4.3 billion offer but assured the committee that he could obtain it to facilitate further discussions.
"We can undertake to go and ask for that letter and come back to report because up to where we are there has never been any written document of Sh4.3 billion," Simiyu said.
Following the failed talks, MP Melly directed the union and IPUCCF to reconvene next week, advising the union to carefully review all terms to avoid further implementation issues.
Melly’s guidance came as UASU criticised the government for failing to uphold a previous Return-to-Work Formula (RTWF) agreement that had led lecturers to suspend their strike in September.
The government’s commitment to swiftly operationalise the RTWF, UASU argues, was not honoured, pushing lecturers back to the streets.
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