The formation of a new teachers’ union has thrown the entire leadership of giant teacher unions, KNUT and KUPPET into panic mode. The national education Union (NEU), is determined to fish members from all learning levels, from pre-primary schools to universities and other tertiary institutions.

A section of Officials from the existing teacher unions has termed NEU as a splinter union whose role is to split the larger unions, steal their members with impossible promises, and kill their bargaining powers with TSC and the government.

The National Education Union comes after several fruitless struggles, which have incited very many once loyal members to quit the former giant teachers’ union, KNUT. It also follows a pre-influenced leadership transformation in KNUT and the signing of a controversial cashless collective bargaining agreement, CBA with the Teachers Service Commission TSC.

NEU will break the traditional routine of unions targeting membership from only a category of teachers.

KNUT for instance draws most of its members from primary school teachers, whereas KUPPET draws most of its members from secondary schools, with some from teacher training colleges.  The Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (Kusnet) targets teachers working in special schools and teachers with special conditions from any learning level. KUPPET, KNUT and KUSNET have all signed recognition agreements with TSC.

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Other recently formed unions include the Kenya Union of Pre-primary Education Teachers Kunoppet, which draws its membership from pre-primary teachers, and the Kenya Union of Technical and Vocational Education Trainers Kutvet, whose formation saw technical institutes’ teachers leave Kuppet in 2018.

Kuppet secretary-general Akello Misori warned the proponents of Neu of stiff competition, sentiments which were echoed by KNUT secretary general Collins Oyuu in a separate podium.