TSC on the spot over visually impaired teachers union deductions

Representatives from the Kenya Visually Impaired Teachers’ Association (KEVIT) have voiced strong objections to the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) for automatically deducting 1.5% of their salaries as agency fees to the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET).

The teachers claim they never joined KUSNET and that the union does not represent their interests.

At a Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare meeting, chaired by Senator Julius Murgor, KEVIT chairperson Mbugua Kamau described his involuntary transfer from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) to KUSNET in February 2022. He criticized the T-Pay online platform for not providing an option to leave KUSNET.

However, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia, who attended the meeting, disputed Kamau’s assertions. She stated that the T-Pay system allows teachers to control their union-related deductions, including approving or halting them.

“The T-Pay system enables teachers to manage their deductions by approving any third-party fees they want applied to their payslips,” Macharia explained. “If a teacher wishes to leave a union, they can simply log into the T-Pay system and stop the deduction.”

Senator George Mbugua, Vice-chairperson of the Labour Committee, questioned Macharia on how KUSNET, with only 52 registered members, could be collecting fees from 2,433 teachers. Macharia responded that TSC deducts union dues from registered KUSNET members and agency fees from teachers benefiting from the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiated by KUSNET, in accordance with an order from the Minister of Labour and the Labour Relations Act.

Challenging this, KEVIT’s Geoffrey Wachira questioned the validity of KUSNET’s claim to have negotiated benefits under the CBA, arguing that certain allowances, like the Disability Guide Allowance, existed before KUSNET’s involvement.

“Can anyone claim to negotiate for something that already exists? For instance, the Disability Guide Allowance has been there before KUSNET. How could they negotiate for something that was already in place?” Wachira asked.

Senator Crystal Asige pressed TSC for proof that teachers had consented to the deductions in favor of KUSNET. Senator Murgor concluded by stressing the importance of employees’ freedom to choose their union representation and urged TSC to respect this freedom and to inform teachers about union and agency fees more effectively.

The committee’s session was held in response to Senator Asige’s request for clarification on the registration of teachers with disabilities into KUSNET without their consent.