The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) headed by Secretary General Wilson Sossion is planning to file a lawsuit against the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
The union is threatening to take legal action against the teachers’ employer for intentionally stifling its operations by deregistering its members with its current membership standing at a little over 34,000.
According to latest statistics from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the KNUT membership has dipped to 34,312 from 187,471 between July 2019 and October 2020. The union, which used to receive at least Sh144 million in union dues monthly, received a meagre Sh25 million in October
Sossion stated that the union was finding it hard to run its operations and was forced to close down some of its branch offices.
The general secretary further stated that the union would postpone its annual delegate’s conference, also it may not be able to hold branch elections due to cash-crunch.
“The annual budget for the ADC is approximately Ksh200 million, which the union saves over time. What can we do with Ksh25 million? It cannot even meet our payroll budget,” said Sossion.
KNUT suffered the same blow in 2019, the TSC failed to deduct dues from members’ pay where by it paralyzed 110 branches of the union due to cash crisis.
“Branches are unable to pay rent, electricity, water and meet other operational costs. We now need President Uhuru Kenyatta’s help to mediate the union and TSC,” stated Oloo.
Another officials noted that their members properties were being auctioned after failure to pay back loans.