UASU ISSUES SEVEN-DAY NOTICE FOR NATIONWIDE LECTURERS’ STRIKE
By Jeff Kizzilah Digital Editor
The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) has issued a seven-day notice for a nationwide strike, with the industrial action set to begin at midnight on Friday, October 2, 2026.
UASU says the decision follows what it describes as the persistent failure by university councils, the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury to honour the Return-to-Work Formula signed on November 5, 2025, as well as the lack of a government financial counter-proposal for the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The union says the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) informed university-sector unions on September 21 that neither the Ministry of Education nor the National Treasury had provided a written commitment that funding for public university CBAs would come through the National Exchequer.
UASU has also rejected what it says is an emerging proposal to fund lecturers’ remuneration through student fees and market-based funding, arguing that academic staff in public universities remain public officers.
The union is demanding that the 2025–2029 CBA be negotiated, signed, registered and implemented, with the Government providing a clear commitment that the agreement will be funded through the National Exchequer.
UASU is further calling for protection of lecturers’ public-officer status and wants the proposed Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, 2026 to explicitly safeguard the remuneration of academic staff from the Exchequer.
The union warned that failure to address its concerns could disrupt learning in public universities from October 2, insisting that lecturers deserve dignified and fair remuneration to safeguard the quality and future of public university education in Kenya.
