The salaries’ agency wants to survey earnings of East African Community (EAC) teachers and use the findings to determine the appropriate pay for Kenyan teachers.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) is seeking a consultant to carry out a salary survey in public schools in the six east African countries.

The findings, SRC says, will provide lessons on the best salary structure designs, and remuneration practices to guide it in establishing the market remuneration rate for local teachers.

“Similarity in salary structure designs in member states will promote labour stability in the region,” says SRC.

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The interview panel will also hire one commissioner for Rift valley region.

The benchmarking process will start mid next month and comes on the back of increased push for pay rises among Kenyan teachers.

Teachers in Kenya have on several occasions downed their tools citing poor pay. Some teachers have opted to quit teaching for more lucrative jobs, worsening the teacher-to-learner ratio.

Despite the collective bargaining agreement, CBA, that teachers’ unions will sign with the teachers service commission in July, SRC still feels that teachers’ salaries should be harmonised with their peers in other East African countries.

The SRC salary survey for benchmarking jobs will cover teacher salaries in  Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

It will assess the size of pay and salary structures in each EAC member state.

The survey is in line with SRC Act which requires it to conduct comparative surveys on labour markets and trends in remuneration to determine the monetary worth of the jobs of public officers.

The decision to provide Members of County Assembly (MCAs) with Sh2 million car grants was made in 2017 but its implementation was delayed due to lack of funds.

This is according to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), which says their eligibility for the grant has never been the question.

SRC Chairperson Lyn Mengich said Monday that counties’ lack of funds is what prevented implementation of the decision.

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Ms Mengich said the Council of Governors (CoG) wrote to the commission this year explaining that counties had finally budgeted for the facility, the reason the commission finally approved the payments.

“Because they (counties) gave the assurance of the availability of funds, the commission was able to advise that they go ahead,” she said.

Ms Mengich said the commission did not have to consider the issue of eligibility since it was resolved years ago.

She said the only concern the commission had was whether counties had the money.

“In 2017, the issue was discussed for both the National and County assemblies. At that point, the commission only approved the National Assembly payment because there was a budget allocated for that. County assemblies were not allocated the same because there was no budget,” she explained.

“This issue had been discussed … The answer even back then in 2017 was ‘yes’. However, affordability and sustainability is always a key concern. County assemblies had not allocated any money for that facility.”

The commission chair further noted that just like other State and public officers, MCAs are entitled to transport facilitation by their employer, to make their work easier.

“Since 2017, Parliament is facilitated in that way. They don’t get a car with a driver like other State officers. They are facilitated in a different way,” Ms Mengich said.

“In their representative role, they are required to visit their constituents periodically and because it is a requirement of their job, they are facilitated to discharge that responsibility.”

The commission approved the controversial decision last month, after weeks of a back and forth.

Ms Mengich also described the matter of car grants as being more about equity among State and public officers, not one to do with politics.

But the decision for the county lawmakers to get the grants was inked while they were being convinced to support the BBI constitutional amendment Bill, a factor that elicited rage among members of the public.

Forty three out of the 47 counties passed the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report, a key step in the process of changing the Constitution.

SRC has released new staffing and remuneration guidelines which will be aimed at reducing the country’s high wage bill. The new guidelines have favoured current civil servants, who were to suffer huge allowance cuts according to earlier reports.

Initially, SRC had announced plans to cap civil servants allowances at less than 40 percent of their monthly gross salaries. According to the new report, the capping will only apply to new government employees and those joining new job groups. However, current civil servants will continue to enjoy their current allowances without any capping. This simply implies that the over 865,000 workers at state and government cooperations have been cushioned by SRC, following the draft allowances policy released by the latter on earlier this week.

Among the SRC’s strategies to lower the ballooning wage bill include freezing new employments, revising employees’ register to remove proxy workers, and capping allowances.

The remunerative and facilitative allowances, which were only 31 in 1999, are currently at 247. Some workers even earn a higher sum of all allowances compared to their salaries.

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“Allowances and benefits that are abolished will cease to apply to any new employee in the organization or new to the grade, “reads the draft policy guidelines.

“The employees currently being paid the allowances will continue to enjoy the allowances. This condition will not apply to facilitative allowance,” the report reads further. Usually, facilitative allowances cater for employees expenses outside work stations. SRC claims that such allowances have been misappropriated yet have inflated salaries.

“The allowances have taken a remunerative dimension, yet they were intended to be facilitative in nature. This has resulted in promotion of arbitrage opportunities by public officers to increase the frequency for payment and application, against the policy of prudent management of public resources” reads the report.

Wages in the public sector include; basic salaries and remunerative allowances like house, commuter, hardship, extraneous, domestic and risk. For current public servants, these allowances will continue to reflect on pays lips as they currently are but for new employees, they will be subjected to some cuts.

According to the report, most of the allowances being paid are already catered for in the basic salaries. These include medical allowance, utility allowance and entertainment allowance.

Negotiations between SRC and teachers unions, KNUT and KUPPET might not begin soon.This emerged after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, SRC,  sought more time for before engaging the  teacher unions. What this means is that KNUT and KUPPET will wait longer before negotiations with SRC.

Teachers should however not be anxious as there is a likelyhood that the negotiations, which are yet to begin, will end by mid-June and first phase implementation will begin by July.

SRC CEO Anne Gitau, through a writing requested  TSC for more time and pledged to give further directions.

Gitau said that among the items in the 2021-2025 CBA for teachers is basic salary, which shall be informed by among other factors, the resultant job evaluation pay structures.

In her statement as written in the letter, the parameters for the new CBA talks shall be issued once the ongoing job evaluation is concluded.

“SRC is currently undertaking job evaluation exercise to inform its Third Remuneration Review cycle in the Public Service,” reads the letter in part.

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Gitau however revealed that SRC is reviewing the teacher’s employer request for advice on the new CBA proposals it presented before inviting unions for negotiations as dictated in the law.

Both KNUT and KUPPET presented their 2021-2025 CBA proposals in 2020 but negotiations about their proposals have  not begun. This is despite the fact that the current 2017-2021 CBA will expire on June 30 and a new deal, which is yet to be negotiated should be implemented from July 1.

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“We are looking forward to commencing meaningful, valuable and productive negotiations for the next CBA within an acceptable timeframe that shall ensure teachers benefit with new salaries from CBA so that they can deliver quality teaching to all our public schools,” said Sossion in the letter.

His change of tune came after the TSC has asked Knut to stop propaganda on the pending CBA.

In a letter, TSC told Sossion that the commission was concluding internal consultations with SRC as per the law to pave the way for negotiations.

“In the meantime, we ask you to be patient and avoid making unfounded allegations on the matter,” read the letter.

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Negotiations between SRC and teachers unions, KNUT and KUPPET might not begin soon.This emerged after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, SRC,  sought more time for before engaging the  teacher unions. What this means is that KNUT and KUPPET will wait longer before negotiations with SRC.

Teachers should however not be anxious as there is a likelyhood that the negotiations, which are yet to begin, will end by mid-June and first phase implementation will begin by July.

SRC CEO Anne Gitau, through a writing requested  TSC for more time and pledged to give further directions.

Gitau said that among the items in the 2021-2025 CBA for teachers is basic salary, which shall be informed by among other factors, the resultant job evaluation pay structures.

In her statement as written in the letter, the parameters for the new CBA talks shall be issued once the ongoing job evaluation is concluded.

“SRC is currently undertaking job evaluation exercise to inform its Third Remuneration Review cycle in the Public Service,” reads the letter in part.

Read also

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Possible Reasons For Erroneous Deductions On Teachers’ February 2021 Salaries

Suspected Salary Deal That Made KNUT To Withdraw Its Strike Notice

Ongoing Talks Between SRC and TSC Over 2021-2025 CBA Near a Conclusion

Basic Salary Increments Per Job Group As Per The 2021-2025 TSC CBA Proposal

Revealed: Teachers’ Leave allowance as per 2021-2025 TSC CBA Counter Proposal

Gitau however revealed that SRC is reviewing the teacher’s employer request for advice on the new CBA proposals it presented before inviting unions for negotiations as dictated in the law.

Both KNUT and KUPPET presented their 2021-2025 CBA proposals in 2020 but negotiations about their proposals have  not begun. This is despite the fact that the current 2017-2021 CBA will expire on June 30 and a new deal, which is yet to be negotiated should be implemented from July 1.

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“We are looking forward to commencing meaningful, valuable and productive negotiations for the next CBA within an acceptable timeframe that shall ensure teachers benefit with new salaries from CBA so that they can deliver quality teaching to all our public schools,” said Sossion in the letter.

His change of tune came after the TSC has asked Knut to stop propaganda on the pending CBA.

In a letter, TSC told Sossion that the commission was concluding internal consultations with SRC as per the law to pave the way for negotiations.

“In the meantime, we ask you to be patient and avoid making unfounded allegations on the matter,” read the letter.

Subscribe to elimupedia.com for timely similar updates.

The teachers’ service commission, TSC, has confirmed that it is in final stage of CBA negotiation with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, SRC, and that teachers should expect a payrise beginning July this year.

Through a writing, the commission has warned the Kenya national union of teachers, KNUT to stop peddling allegations against it and allow it to successfully conclude talks with SRC.

“The Commission is in the process of concluding internal consultations with SRC as per the law to pave way for the negotiations. In the meantime, we ask you to be patient and avoid unfounded allegations on the matter,” reads part of the letter.

The counter proposal for the 2021-2025 CBA that TSC submitted to SRC awarded teachers at least 16% increment in basic salary for teachers. The 2021-2025 CBA is expected to be effective from July 2021.

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Teachers’ House allowance as per 2021-2025 TSC CBA Counter Proposal

New Teachers’ Salary scales After 2021-2025 TSC CBA Proposal

Teachers in Job Group C3 and Diploma Holders Receive Favour In The Eyes Of SRC

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The new CBA is expected to bridge the gap between school administrators and ordinary teachers, especially those in lower cadres of each job group.

Should the new CBA be implemented as promised, the basic salaries of teachers in job groups C4 – D5 will increase by between 16-24% while that of teachers in job groups B5 – C3 will increase by between 25-32 %. The lowest job groups in both brackets will get the highest percentage increment.

The TSC 2021-2025 CBA counter proposal that is being negotiated with SRC also proposes a 20% increase in house allowances, commuter and leave allowances. SRC has however maintained that no increase will be made on the allowances due to the ballooning wage bill.

The teachers unions KNUT and KUPPET had however opposed the 2021 – 2025 TSC CBA counter proposals, which were unanimously accepted by most of the teachers they represent. KNUT proposes 102 – 200 % increment on basic salaries while KUPPET advocates for 30 – 70 %. As things are however, it seems like the negotiations between TSC and SRC are ongoing.