University Staff Strike To Kick Off Monday Midnight, UASU Announces
Learning at all public universities across the country will be halted at midnight today (Monday) after the University Academic Staff Union (UASU) announced that it will officially begin its strike.
According to UASU, the strike will begin at midnight after all efforts to negotiate with the government were unsuccessful.
“I want to tell UASU members wherever they are, just work today up to midnight, after which you should down your tools,” the UASU Secretary General Constantine Wesonga urged.
“If you have given a member 7 percent it will show, we are not dealing with illiterate people who donβt know how to calculate 7 and 4 percent so you cannot cheat them. You want UASU officials to be part of that manipulation, that one we will not do,” he added.
The University Academic Staff Union (UASU) has declared a nationwide lecturers' strike in all public universities starting at midnight today.
— The Eastleigh Voice (@Eastleighvoice) October 28, 2024
UASU had issued a seven-day strike notice that expires today, due to a disagreement with the government over the implementation of the⦠pic.twitter.com/PM6WksxgWH
The union disclosed that they had been negotiating with the government to sign a return-to-work formula, and the most recent attempt to reach an agreement failed during a meeting on September 26.
This occurred despite recent government attempts to persuade the dons to return to class with the promise of taking the negotiations to the ministerial level.
On September 25, Cabinet Secretary for Labour Alfred Mutua announced that he had escalated the negotiations to include representatives from the Ministry of Labour, Education, and the Treasury to assist the two sides in reaching an agreement.
CS Mutua also promised to raise the retirement age for all academic staff members, including graduate assistants, tutorial fellows, and assistant lecturers.
“During the meeting, which was attended by UASU Secretary General Dr. Constantine Wasonga and KUSU Secretary General Dr. Charles Mukhwaya among other members, we agreed on the formation of an inter-ministerial negotiating team,” Mutua stated.
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— Dr. Alfred N. Mutua (@DrAlfredMutua) September 25, 2024
Today, I held discussions with officials from the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) to address the ongoing strike, which has now entered⦠pic.twitter.com/W8P3Mmi9fJ
“This committee will address the key concerns raised by the unions and work toward a return-to-work agreement.”
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“The team will comprise representatives from the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Education, the National Treasury, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), public universities, the State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC), and the unions,” he added.
The strike will begin when UASU and other staff unions’ seven-day notice to the government expires, at which point they will begin their industrial action.
The unions, including the University Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU), accused the government of negligence after initially promising to meet their demands.
University Staff Strike To Kick Off Monday Midnight, UASU Announces
