Gov’t in Final Talks With SRC to Resolve Lecturers’ Strike as Ogamba Urges Teaching to Resume
University lecturers strike over unfulfilled CBA
The government has intensified its efforts to put an end to the current lecturers’ strike that has brought almost three weeks of havoc in learning in the public universities. Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Julius Ogamba acknowledged that there are new talks to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in an attempt to break the deadlock and agree on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to cover 2025-2029.
Addressing the opening of the 2025 National Examination and Assessment season in Nairobi on Friday, Ogamba said that the government was on what he called a final push towards a long-term solution. He revealed that the SRC has already released the guiding principles of the negotiations, which will resume on October 6.
The 2025-2029 CBA negotiation process remains in its preparatory stages, yet the SRC has given the roadmap of how the discussions will be held in the future, as explained by Ogamba. Even as the debate went on, he urged lecturers to go back to class and assured them that their issues were being addressed within the agreed time frames.
The CS indicated that some preliminary sessions on the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) had been conducted in September. The University Academic Staff Union (UASU) was, however, not present at the previous meetings. Ogamba, however, was optimistic about the fact that UASU had expressed willingness to engage in future negotiations following the adoption of the parameters of the SRC.
Meanwhile, Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied (KUDHEIHA) was applauded for abiding by a court order that suspended the strike and for committing to dialogue. Ogamba asked all the unions to prioritise the needs of students, and he pointed out that long-term industrial action still derails academic schedules and disadvantages students.
The government is determined to fulfil its requirements after the negotiation structure is in place. I am urging lecturers and staff to be back to duty so that sanity can be restored in our universities, he said.
The government also considers accessing the legal avenues in order to speed up the resolution of the dispute. Ogamba appeared before the Senate plenary on Wednesday, and he announced that both the unions and government representatives would appear before the court on October 6 to seek further direction on the way forward.
The Ministry has been calling on lecturers to yield, but they have stuck to their demands. They are also demanding the disbursement of Ksh 7.9 billion owed based on the 2017 and 2021 CBAs, as well as on the outstanding amount of money based on the current 2021-2025 CBA. Last month, when the lecturers were summoned to resume working at once, Ogamba ordered them to do so, failing which he would impose disciplinary measures, even contempt of court.
As the stalemate persistently continues, the following negotiation sessions and the court proceedings have now become the focus and the question of whether universities will open full operations in the next few weeks is answered.
