This
is a summary of the industrial court ruling on teachers salary on 30th
June 2015.
Key observation and
orders of the court
The
court observed that the public service in Kenya adopts a four (4) year
cycle of remuneration review.
Therefore, the court took note that TSC had submitted a detailed report to SRC
with justification for a basic salary review of between 50-60% that has to be reviewed after four years. Therefore, the court ordered that TSC must abide by its submission and implement
the 50-60% basic salary review.
With
respect to the above order, the court observed that the teachers union had made
a counter proposal of between 100-150%. The court did not pursue the basis for
the unions proposals any further.
The
court observed that the last negotiated salary increase between TSC and the
unions were in 1997. It further took note that arbitrary increments were made
to the teachers in the name of harmonization between 1997 and 2013.
The
court noted big disparities. For example, the expenditure of the TSC
Secretariat increased by 94.2% from Kshs.1.7 billion in 2009 to Kshs.3.3
billion in 2014. This happened at a time when the net pay for the teachers
increased marginally. Therefore, there is a big disparity in revenue
allocations to the TSC Secretariat and the revenue allocation to the teachers.
Catering for losses
in money value/ inflation
The
court took note of the fact that the Government has consistently budgeted for a
4% basic salary increase for all public officers including teachers to cater
for the loss of money value (inflation). However, this allocation was never
been implemented for teachers over the period 1997 – 2013.
The
court noted that if 4% inflation cushion is spread from 1997 – 2009 alone, then
it will translate to a 64% cumulative salary increase to teachers.
Enforcing the Basic
Pay increment
The
court has enforced TSC's document called,"Working Document" that contains the 50 – 60% basic wage increase. The enforcement effective from 1st July 2013 and the same
will expire on 30th June 2017.
The
court observed that the basic pay increase in reality translates
to an annual hike of between 12.5% - 15% in the basic salary.
Allowances that
must been increased
The
court ordered TSC to increase the following allowances.
- House
allowance.
- Leave
allowance.
- Hardship
allowance.
- Advance
for motor vehicle purchase; and Mortgage facility.
- Responsibility
allowance.
- Hazard
allowance.
- Disturbance
allowance.
- Accommodation
and night out allowance.
- Mileage
claims.
- Study
leave.
- Sabbatical
leave.
The
court directed that the increase in the above allowances must be reflected in
the period 1st July 2013 to 30th June 2017.
Points to note
- The
court directed that the 4% annual inflation cushion that is extended to public servants
must also be extended and implemented automatically on teachers.
- The
basic salary of teachers must be reviewed every four years as per the SRC’s
circular on remuneration of public servants basic pay. Therefore, the next
review must be done in 2017. The current period is the 2013-2017. The next period will be 2017 - 2021.
- The Industrial court did not formulate any new increment to teachers. It simply enforced the figures tabled by TSC to the unions during a consultative meeting on 9th September 2014.