NAIROBI, Kenya — Public universities across Kenya face disruptions after lecturers and other university staff began a nationwide strike on Friday, October 2, following a breakdown in negotiations over the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU), Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU), and Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA) called on their members to withdraw their labour after rejecting the latest pay proposal by the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF).
The unions said the counter-offer failed to address their demands on salaries, allowances, medical benefits and recruitment of academic staff, despite prolonged negotiations.
They announced the strike after talks with university employers at Machakos University ended without an agreement.
Unions Reject Proposed Salary Increases
The unions described the employers’ proposal as inadequate, particularly its provisions on annual salary increments.
They said the proposed four per cent automatic annual increment was below the prevailing inflation rate, which they put at more than six per cent.
The unions also argued that the proposal failed to meet their expectations under the previous 2021–2025 CBA, especially regarding the harmonisation of allowances.
The IPUCCF recommendations to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), however, propose a cumulative basic salary increase of 8.25 per cent over the four-year agreement, with annual adjustments of two per cent.
The forum considered three options: a two per cent increase across all job grades; a two per cent increase for grades 11–15 and three per cent for grades 1–10; and a three per cent increase across all grades.
The third option would have resulted in a cumulative increase of 12.56 per cent, but IPUCCF settled on the first option.
The unions’ proposals were substantially higher. UASU sought basic salary increases of between 36 and 68 per cent, while KUSU proposed increases ranging from 36 to 113 per cent. KUDHEIHA sought increases of between 75 and 193 per cent.
On house allowance, IPUCCF recommended a three per cent increase across all grades, noting that the allowance had remained unchanged since the 2010–2013 CBA.
Medical Cover And Staffing Disputes
Medical benefits are another point of contention, with the unions arguing that the proposed package falls below what civil servants receive.
They also want universities to recruit more academic staff to address what they describe as high student enrolment relative to available teaching personnel.
“The counter-offer does not address one of the critical issues, that is the recruitment of specifically the academic members of staff to match what is well known to us, the very high enrolment of students in public universities,” the unions said.
The unions further accused university employers of failing to honour an earlier commitment to begin negotiations within 30 days after signing a return-to-work formula on November 5, 2025.
Ruto Promises Government Engagement
President William Ruto has said his administration will engage university lecturers in an effort to resolve the dispute and prevent prolonged disruption to learning.
Speaking during a media interview in Mombasa, the President acknowledged that some of the issues raised by lecturers dated back several years.
“Those university lecturers who have threatened to go on strike, we will talk to them,” Ruto said.
He added that his administration would take responsibility for addressing outstanding issues inherited from previous governments.
“What they are asking us about is not from now. They are asking us about things that happened in 2017,” he said.
“That is okay, I will do it because I am the one here now. So, I will deal with it,” the President added.
