Top officials from the University’s academic staff union Egerton University chatter are among 14 teaching staff who were slapped with an indefinite suspension on Tuesday, February 8, for participating in an industrial crackdown that crippled learning programs at the institution.
The 14 who are said to have been on strike were issued letters of suspension for failing to corporate with Egerton University management and returning to work. The lecturers had reportedly gone without pay for months.
A meeting last week between UASU and the University Management Board (UMB) yielded no results, and UMB decided to issue a letter of absence of duty to lecturers, which they were to sign and submit to the vice chancellor.
The university suspended 14 lecturers, and distanced itself from the institution for defying orders to withdraw the strike, even after the affected officials declared that it was broken and could not meet their wage hike demands. asked to stay.
Those suspended include Mwaniki Ngari, chairperson of the UASU Egerton chatter, and Grace Kibue, the university chatter secretary.
Kibu, who confirmed the matter, said that the institution’s management has declared him a stranger in the institution he has been teaching for two decades.
“It is true that the university management has suspended top officials throughout UASU and directed that we leave the university campus with immediate effect until further notice,” Kibu said on the phone.
He termed as illegal and unnecessary the action taken by the university management against him for pressurizing for a pay hike amid over 2,000 lectures.
Kibu accused the university management of refusing to address their grievances and of resorting to action that aggravated the already dire situation at the institution .
“The management, instead of addressing our problems, which includes wage hike, has resorted to threats and intimidation aimed at silencing our curriculum to press for the implementation of the above,” she complained.
Chatter President Mwaniki Nagari took up the issue with the university management for refusing to negotiate with a view to solve the crisis facing the institution.
He lamented that despite other public universities having followed the 2017-2021 CBA, Egerton University has refused to comply with its provisions, describing the action as a provocation of the highest order.
“We have entered into a collective bargaining agreement with the university which the institute has refused to implement to the letter,” he said.
Egerton University Vice-Chancellor Professor Isaac Kibwej has said that the institute was broke and would not pay the lecturer’s salary increase.
Breaking his silence on the crisis at the beleaguered institution, Kibwage said that the institution is cash-strapped and cannot meet the financial demands made by the workers on their previous agreement with them.
“It is unfortunate that lecturers have refused to understand the challenges we are going through. Their strike is likely to plunge the institution deeper into financial trouble,” Kibwej had said.
