UASU (University Academic Staff Union) Secretary General Constantine Wasonga has insisted that the nationwide lecturers’ strike will not end unless all CBAs are negotiated and implemented, including the internal CBAs for all the 31 universities. Addressing the press at Technical University of Kenya in Nairobi, the UASU Secretary-General said the strike notice was given earlier but nobody cared, “When I was issuing the strike notice I indicated that it was irrevocable but nobody bothered to call us to negotiate, we even increased the 21 day notice by seven days,” he said.
Wasonga said they had negotiated with the IPUCCF (Inter-Public Universities Council Consultative Forum) and among the conditions given was that all internal CBAs for the 31 universities were to be concluded by 15th May, “As we speak all the internal CBAs have not been negotiated, concluded and signed. Firm instructions were given that we should call off the strike only when the 31 CBAs shall have been negotiated, implemented, and deposited in the employment and labour relations Court,” said Wasonga.
Furthermore, he said the duration for implementation of the 2017-2021 CBA has been neglected for the lecturers because its already four months late, “Other public sector employees are already enjoying the 2017-2021 CBAs,” he quipped. He said the protracted process may indicate that the lecturers’ strike won’t end anytime soon, “I must go to all the 31 Universities to take part in the internal CBA negotiations and ensure they are registered, we must then negotiate the 2017-2021 CBA which will take time. This whole process may even take close to one and a half years.”
The UASU Secretary-General said the higher education sector won’t be appreciated if the situation doesn’t change, “Professors are keeping away from lecture halls because they are being underpaid,” he said. He assured the University students that their learning will be catered for once the issues are sorted, saying that lecturers will work extra hard to cover the pending academic work.