SORRY, BUT THIS TIME, I AM INCLINED TO SAY THAT TEACHERS ARE INSINCERE IN THEIR QUEST.. It is a fact that Knut has valid constitutional grounds to fight for better pay for teachers. There is no denying that teachers deserve a little more in their pockets at the end of the month. Teachers are demanding a 150% salary increment as well as commuter allowances similar to those paid to other civil servants. Talks aimed at averting the teachers strike failed to take off on Saturday even as the government had tabled a sweetened deal to teachers. KNUT chose to snub the meeting. KUPPET attended the meeting but declined the employer’s offer. The teachers union bosses have maintained a hard line stance despite being urged to give dialogue a chance. The best method out of this sort of conundrums is dialogue and the best way to avoid the sort of crisis the education sector find itself in is to put offers on the table and debate them. It is important to recognise that even in the most desperate of circumstances, there is need for goodwill. KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion has stated that they are no longer interested in holding discussions with the Government since they had attended such meetings in the past and bore no fruits. Such brinkmanship can only be interpreted as a sign of bad faith or an attempt to scuttle any efforts to resolve the impasse. The union bosses are doing this because of self-preservation. Their whole life is centred around unions that provide them with security and power. Hence unions must be preserved and defended by all possible means, even if it means undermining the positions of workers they represent. It is easier for them to settle for a salary increment that is spread till eternity because, come every July, they will be praised for a job well done and teachers will continue electing them ad infinitum.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:23:20 +0000