UASU secretary general Constantine Wesonga addressing the media(PHOTO/kenyayote.com)
Learning in public universities is set to suffer the longest ever lecturers’ strike which UASU warns would last for close to one and a half years as they seek to tackle multiple negotiations for better remunerations.
Moi University lecturers have merged the ongoing nationwide strike with yet another go-slow they declare on Monday over the institution’s failure to register their internally negotiated 2013-2017 CBA.
The UASU Moi University Chapter Secretary general Willis Abok on Monday said the institution was facing a double tragedy as they would only report to back work when the two CBAs are honored and implemented.
The union official made the announcement in Eldoret accusing the university administration of purposefully avoiding signing and registering a CBA whose negotiations they had concluded in 2016.
Mr. Abok accused vice-chancellors in public universities and IPUCCF of lacking goodwill terming the strike as an inevitable ritual and will only be called off when money shall be reflected in their member’s bank accounts.
“There is a conspiracy and we think that Vice Chancellors and those we negotiate with are not keen to have our terms improved. We are professionals but people who are sleeping on the job are denying us what is signed and even registered,” said Mr. Abok.
He accused the Moi University administration of playing low and high on the agreement they reached last year in February saying it was unfortunate that such issues were only looked into when they are on strike.
UASU national secretary general Constantine Wesonga ,who addressed the media at Technical University of Kenya said he had been instructed by the national executive council to call off the strike only when the negotiations are fully implemented across the 31 public universities in the country and registered at the labour relations court.
“All the university councils should know that all the internal CBAs were to be concluded in May. Other public sector are already enjoying their bargains for 2013-17 period and this time round UASU will not negotiate at the tail end of the cycle,” said Mr. Wesonga.
He said just like civil servants, they were set to initiate talks for yet better terms spilling over to 2022 expressing fears that negotiations would take closely take more than a year.