Lecturers to escalate strike as pay talks fail

The government’s failure to improve its offer to university staff has prolonged the lecturers’ strike, with unions threatening to escalate the industrial action after Monday’s negotiations collapsed.

The unions accused the Government of presenting a counteroffer largely unchanged from the one tabled on October 1, saying it failed to address their demands under the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

The absence of National Treasury officials from the meeting also emerged as a major concern, with the unions saying the ministry’s participation was critical to resolving funding questions at the centre of the dispute.

Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga said the unions had expected a revised offer following the work of a technical committee tasked with addressing their demands.

However, he said the proposal presented by the inter-ministerial committee fell short of their expectations, leaving the parties without an agreement.

The negotiations brought together the three unions, UASU, Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) and Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA), and the Government’s inter-ministerial committee.

Wasonga said salary adjustments should be informed by objective economic indicators, including inflation, the cost of living and changes in workers’ purchasing power, rather than just arbitrary figures.

“Negotiations must be grounded in credible data, established principles of collective bargaining, and respect for duly negotiated and registered CBAs. The Government must negotiate in good faith and not dictate terms,” he said.

The National Treasury had been invited to the meeting but tendered its apologies for non-attendance, with UASU maintaining that its involvement was indispensable in resolving the funding questions.

The union wants the Government to provide a firm commitment to funding public university staff salaries through the Exchequer and table a credible counteroffer that can lead to the conclusion of the CBA.

Wasonga also raised concerns over the IPUCCF funding proposal, which he said would result in university employees’ salaries being paid from student fees. UASU opposed the proposal, maintaining that university staff are public officers whose salaries should be funded through the Consolidated Fund or money appropriated by Parliament.

“University employees are public officers. Public officers can either be paid from the Consolidated Fund or money appropriated by Parliament. We are not going to allow that our salaries be paid from student fees,” Wasonga said.

KUSU Secretary-General Charles Mukhwaya said the unions had hoped to conclude the negotiations after the technical committee completed its work and submitted a report to the Treasury.

He said the unions were ready to negotiate and expected the latest meeting to produce an offer that would enable them to reach an agreement and allow students to return to class.

“As we speak right now, there’s no agreement between the unions that are here with the Government and their agents at the universities,” Mukhwaya said.

He said workers need a proposal that matches the economic pressures they face, arguing that an adjustment of three per cent or less would not adequately cushion them against rising living costs.

Mukhwaya cited inflation, taxation and the erosion of purchasing power as some of the factors affecting university staff, saying the Government needed to present specific figures rather than broad financial commitments.

“Come with an offer in percentages that will make us engage in meaningful negotiation,” he said.

Mukwaya also called for tangible counteroffers on salaries, housing allowances, commuting allowances and medical benefits, saying these would provide a basis for meaningful engagement between the parties.

Beyond the salary dispute, the unions are demanding the fulfilment of commitments they say were made under the 2021–2025 CBA.

UASU wants the Government to budget for staff promotions, recruit additional lecturers and harmonise allowances paid to employees in public universities. It is also demanding funding provisions for car loans and mortgages.

Wasonga said the Government should honour the commitments made under the previous agreement and incorporate them into the current negotiations, insisting that the unions will not abandon their demands and that the strike will be intensified until the dispute is resolved.

UASU chairperson Grace Nyongesa said the unions had submitted their proposals earlier and expected the 2025–2029 CBA to be concluded by December last year, in line with a return-to-work formula reached during an earlier strike.

She said university staff had continued to accumulate salary arrears from July last year, with the prolonged negotiations leaving workers waiting for money owed to them.

Nyongesa said delays in implementing CBAs had also reduced the value of salary adjustments by the time the arrears were eventually paid.

She cited the 2017–2021 CBA, saying some staff had waited until 2026 to receive the full amounts owed to them.

“From 2017, when the implementation ought to have taken place, to 2026, when our members got the entire amount, the value of that money had eroded,” she said.

Nyongesa also raised concerns over delayed third-party remittances, saying some university employees were unable to access bank loans because of problems with remittances to financial institutions.

She further cited difficulties surrounding pension arrangements, warning that workers faced uncertainty over their financial security both during their employment and after retirement.

The chairperson said some employees who had rendered their services had died before receiving the money owed to them, with their families still waiting for the payments.

The unions said the outstanding issues went beyond the latest salary offer and reflected wider concerns over the implementation of agreements and the financial welfare of university staff.

Despite the collapse of Monday’s talks, the officials said they remained willing to engage the Government and university employers, provided they presented proposals that could be negotiated.

However, UASU announced that the strike would be escalated until the dispute was resolved, calling on staff in public universities to remain united.

“We call upon all staff in public universities to remain united, steadfast and resilient,” Wasonga said.

The continued industrial action now leaves students facing further uncertainty over the resumption of learning, with the latest round of negotiations failing to produce an agreement that would bring the dispute to an end.