Reopening of public universities could be affected, after the government and unions representing lectures failed to reach an agreement during a meeting that was aimed at averting a planned strike.
The lecturers have vowed to paralyze learning in the universities beginning January 9, after the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) failed to offer a counter-proposal for their 2013-2017 collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
The parties, including the Kenya University Staff Union and University Academic Staff Union (UASU) on Friday evening failed to agree with the government to suspend a strike planned for Monday.
According to KUDHEHIA Secretary-General Albert Njeru, the government has failed to implement their agreement, adding that their salaries have not been raised since 2010, despite there being an agreement on the same.
“We are very disappointed with the IPUCCF for doing nothing about the proposal we gave them on December 2012 for the 2013-2017 agreement,” said Mr Njeru.
The strike will compound the government’s woes, with the doctors still in the streets holding for a 300 per cent increase, despite the government offering them what it termed as a ‘responsible’ offer.