UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga has reiterated that the lecturers Union, KUSU and KUDHEIHA will not call off their strike until the 2017-2021 CBA is negotiated, signed, registered, implemented and backed. The UASU boss has said lecturers don’t want a global financial figure to be distributed like it was last time, “We want structured salary negotiations. The University unions are not going to accept a global figure like last year, where the government disbursed and distributed Kshs 10 billion,” said Wasonga.
Addressing lecturers before staging demos and heading to the Treasury and Ministry of Education to present their petitions on Wednesday morning, the UASU boss faulted Education CS Amina Mohammed for lacking the required nous in the education docket, “I was surprised that a whole Education CS doesn’t know the number of employees in public universities, it’s the union that provokes her to do a head count,” he said, adding that she should know better about the ongoings in universities.
He also criticized the excuses posed by the Education CS, including the need to have a job evaluation included in CBA negotiations. He referred to a ruling made by the Employment and Labour Relations Court, in a case pitting the nurses union, SRC and the Ministry of Health, saying job evaluation shouldn’t be linked to CBA negotiations. Moreover, he said University dons and professors shouldn’t be subjected to job evaluations, adding that SRC shouldn’t and can’t evaluate high ranking professors. Learning in all public universities has been paralyzed since March 1st as the dons’ strike rumbles on.
