Fourteen senior officials of the Universities Academic Staff Union Egerton University who are said to have been on strike, were issued letters of suspension for failing to cooperate with the Egerton University management. The lecturers had reportedly gone for months without pay.
The senior officials of the UASU Egerton chapter were on Tuesday, February 8, slammed with indefinite suspension for participating in the industrial action that paralysed learning programmes at the institution.
A meeting held last week between UASU and the University management Board(UMB) was bungled, and the UMB decided to issue the lecturers with letters of absence of duty which they were reportedly supposed to sign and submit to the Vice-chancellor.
The university went on to suspend the 14 lecturers, and asked the affected officials to keep off the institution for defying orders to call off the strike even after declaring that it was broke and could not meet their demands for wage increment.
Among those suspended are UASU Egerton chapter chairperson Mwaniki Ngari and Grace Kibue who is the university chapter secretary.
Kibue who confirmed the matter said the institution management has declared them strangers in the institution which they have been offering their teaching service for over two decades.
“It is true the university management has suspended the entire UASU top officials and directed that we leave the university compound with immediate effect until further notice,” Kibue said.
She described as illegal and uncalled for, the action taken against them by the university management to suspend them for pressing for pay rise among the more than 2,000 lectures.
Kibue accused the university management of refusing to address their grievances and instead resorting to actions that would worsen the already bad situation at the institution.
“Instead of the management addressing our problems that include pay rise it has resorted to threats and intimidation aimed at silencing our course to press for implementation of the above,” she complained.
The chapter chairman Mwaniki Ngari took issue with the university management for refusing to dialogue with a view to solve the crisis facing the institution.
He regretted that despite other public universities obeying the 2017-2021 CBA, Egerton University has refused to abide by its provisions terming the action as provocation of the highest order.
“We have a signed collective bargaining agreement with the university which the institution has refused to implement to the letter,” he said.
Egerton University Vice Chancellor Professor Isaac Kibwage has maintained that the institution was cash strapped and won’t pay the lecturer’s pay rise.