UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga. [Photo/Capital FM] The Universities’ Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Inter-Public Universities Consultative Council Forum (IPUCCF) are set to resume talks on the 2017-2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement on Wednesday ahead of the January 31 deadline.
The two parties started talks on Friday after similar meetings scheduled to take place earlier in the month were postponed by IPUCCF Chairperson, Prof Isaac Mbeche.According to a return to work, formula arrived at on December 9 when UASU called off a month-long strike over the non-implementation of a Sh10 billion 2013-2017 CBA inked on March 13 following a 54-day work boycott, discussions for the new CBA were to commence by December 18.Individual public universities were to conclude internal CBAs for the 2013-2017 phase by February 28.
In a statement following the resumption of talks on Friday, UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga said a common understanding had been reached to have the 2017-2022 CBA concluded in time to avoid industrial disharmony.
The effective date for the commencement of the new CBS was July 1, 2017.
Wasonga also said that UASU will seek the settlement of pension arrears from past CBAs.
According to Wasonga, Sh1.56 billion and Sh2 billion is pending for the 2010-2013 and 2013-2017 CBAs respectively.
UASU is also objected to a plan to engage assistant lecturers on a contractual basis.