UASU Issues Strike Notice After December Salaries Delay

Lecturers from the Technical University of Kenya (TUK) issued a notice to down their tools on Tuesday, January 14, should the government fail to address their grievances.

Speaking to the press on Sunday, January 12, the university dons demanded the government to pay their December 2024 salaries immediately.

“We are therefore demanding that the government through the Ministry of Education and the University Council pay our members their December 2024 salaries immediately and also address other issues related to financial obligations of the employer,” TUK officials said.

The dons warned that failure to have their grievances addressed, TUK University would face an imminent shutdown.

The lecturers further vowed to paralyze operations and instead hold a procession to present their issues to the National Assembly, the Treasury, and the Ministry of Education.

“Further to this, we shall hold a major beacon to deliver petitions to the National Assembly, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Education on a Tuesday, 14th of January 2025,” the lecturers added.

“We don’t have the energy to take in anything beyond what we have requested,” the University lecturers added asserting their demand for their grievances to be resolved quickly.

The lecturers confirmed that they intended to picket on Tuesday. “We have already informed the security apparatus. We hope they will provide for us security as we present our pickets, and our petitions to the relevant offices,” they stated.

According to the University Academic Staff Union (UASU), the government failed to honour an agreement signed on November 23, last year which ended a 24-day strike that disrupted all 35 public universities and two constituent colleges.

Following the agreement, the government, through the Higher Education Principal Secretary, Beatrice Inyangala, issued a circular to university dons and directed the institutions to honour the pay increase including arrears of October and November.

However, as matters stand, the payments have not been made forcing the lecturers back to an industrial action.

The agreement, reached in late November, included the implementation of the 2021 – 2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) valued at Ksh9.7 billion to be paid in three phases.