Kenya’s teachers down tools

Kenya’s teachers down tools

Nairobi, Kenya
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Sarah Nasira, 12, leads her classmates as they revise their class work without a teacher on the second week of a national teachers' strike in Kenya. The teachers' unions have more than 280,000 members.

The walkout comes after the government refused to hike pay by up to 60 percent, although the Court of Appeal supported the demand by state schoolteachers in a ruling in August.

. Nairobi, Kenya. Reuters/Thomas Mukoya

A body representing Kenyan unions on 9 September threatened widespread strikes next week if the government does not meet teachers' demands, piling pressure on a government facing a big budget deficit.

Francis Atwoli, secretary-general of the umbrella body, Central Organisation of Trade Unions, told a rally he had issued the "seven-day strike notice" to the labour minister.

. Nairobi, Kenya. Reuters/Thomas Mukoya

The warning of a solidarity strike by COTU, which groups transport, railway, county government and other workers' unions, raises the stakes for a government whose budget for 2015/16 already forecasts a deficit of 8.7 percent of gross domestic product.

. Nairobi, Kenya. Reuters/Thomas Mukoya

Last month National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich told Reuters the teachers' demand was unsustainable.

"The impact of that award is not helpful to the country and even to the teachers because the economic consequences are far reaching and will affect everyone," he said.

. Nairobi, Kenya. Reuters/Thomas Mukoya

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