Teachers in Rarieda and Bondo subcounties are ready to down their tools in support of industrial action by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).
According to the union’s Rarieda and Bondo branch executive committees, all arrangements, including required notices to the police, have been issued ahead of the strike scheduled to begin on Monday.
Rarieda Branch Executive Secretary Willis Odhach Achola warned Knut headquarters against calling off the strike without the government meeting all the conditions that teachers gave their employer, the Teachers’ Service Commission.
The executive member addressed the media at Ruma Primary School, where he attended the executive committee meeting on Thursday.
“We urge and demand from Knut that the strike be on until the six conditions that teachers mandated Knut to give TSC are implemented,” Achola said.
He implored teachers to ignore TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia’s calls urging them to stop the strike, adding that the employer has been frustrating them.
Bondo Branch Executive Secretary George Ajwang’ said they have issued the local police with notices.
Effective Monday, teachers would hold peaceful demonstrations in Bondo town and other urban centres to push for the implementation of their demands.
Ajwang’ said no school would operate and urged parents not to release their children.
Bondo Knut chairman Isaiah Okeyo Makoulo said that teachers were frustrated whenever they visited hospitals for medication as the facilities turned them back due to failure by TSC to remit deductions.
“We lost our medical allowance because of the medical scheme, and it is very unfortunate that teachers are frustrated whenever they visit any facility,” Makoulo said.
The six demands that the teachers want implemented before calling off the strike are the implementation of phase two of the 2021-25 Collective Bargaining Agreement and confirmation into Permanent and Pensionable employment of 46,000 Junior Secondary School teachers currently engaged as interns.
Other demands are the promotion of more than 130,000 teachers who have stagnated in one job group for ten years and above, the release of third-party deductions, the remittance of medical funds to the AON insurance scheme and the immediate payment of retirement benefits to those who retire from public service.
