Lecturers in public universities are set to begin a nationwide strike on October 2 after the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) issued a seven-day notice over the stalled 2025-2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
UASU Secretary-General Dr Constantine Wasonga said the decision followed what the union described as the failure by university councils, the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury to honour the return-to-work formula signed on November 5, 2025. The union is also demanding a clear commitment that the CBA will be financed through the National Exchequer.
“Universities are technically insolvent because the government has not been remitting money due to them. You are going to see the mother of all strikes this season because universities are understaffed, we are overworked and we don’t have pension schemes; and you want us to take it lying down? We won’t! Therefore, on October 2, all universities shall be closed,” Wasonga said.
UASU National Chairperson Grace Nyongesa said the union wanted the outstanding issues addressed through negotiations, adding that members had been acting in good faith.
“We have our colleagues from different universities to address our issues, and we are very disappointed, and we are not going to budge. When we get out, we would want our issues addressed squarely. We have been acting in good faith, but when we are pushed out to demonstrate our anger, we shall do so,” UASU National Chairperson Grace Nyongesa added.
At the centre of the dispute is UASU’s proposed 2025-2029 CBA, which seeks improvements in salaries, allowances, research funding, retirement terms and career progression for academic staff.
The proposal submitted to the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) covers six academic grades, from graduate assistants to professors, and proposes an average annual salary increase of six per cent over the four-year agreement running from July 2025 to June 2029.
Under the proposed structure, the highest salary notch for professors would rise from the current Sh345,816 to more than Sh580,144 a month by 2028/29, while senior lecturers would earn up to Sh399,644, compared with the current Sh238,221.
UASU is also seeking higher housing allowances. Its proposal would raise the monthly allowance for professors to Sh116,028 from Sh73,715, associate professors to Sh104,426 from Sh66,344, senior lecturers to Sh92,822 from Sh58,972 and lecturers to Sh87,020 from Sh55,286.
The union wants commuter allowances standardised at Sh60,000 a month for all academic grades, except part-time staff, for whom it proposes Sh20,000. Current rates range from Sh20,000 for assistant lecturers and graduate assistants to Sh50,000 for professors.
It is also proposing a standard monthly risk allowance of Sh30,000 for lecturers exposed to occupational hazards, compared with current rates of between Sh5,000 and Sh15,000 for staff working in laboratories and workshops. Higher allowances are also being sought for academic staff undertaking additional duties.
On research, UASU wants the Government to allocate two per cent of GDP annually to research and innovation, with part of the funding going directly to academic staff. The proposal includes annual research grants of up to Sh5 million for professors and associate professors and Sh4 million for senior lecturers and lecturers.
Academics who secure external research grants would also receive a 20 per cent honorarium based on the value of the grants. The union is further seeking to raise the mandatory retirement age for lecturers, senior lecturers, associate professors and professors to 74, while graduate assistants, tutorial fellows and assistant lecturers would retire at 70. It also proposes that academics who reach retirement age should be eligible for post-retirement contracts.
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On promotions, UASU wants universities to conduct reviews twice a year instead of leaving academic staff waiting for prolonged periods. It is also seeking automatic promotion for graduate assistants who obtain master’s degrees and for tutorial fellows and assistant lecturers who obtain PhDs.
The proposal also seeks higher rates for part-time teaching. UASU wants postgraduate certificate teaching to attract Sh3,000 an hour, up from Sh2,500; postgraduate and master’s courses Sh4,000, up from Sh3,000; and PhD courses Sh5,000, up from Sh4,000. The union’s demand comes as public universities increasingly rely on adjunct and part-time lecturers to meet teaching requirements.
Beyond remuneration, UASU is seeking protections for academic freedom, including the right of lecturers to teach, conduct research, publish findings and express opinions about their institutions. It also wants academic staff to have access to university documents, including statutes, promotion criteria, financial records and relevant correspondence, while calling for protection against abuse, intimidation, bullying and discrimination.
Negotiations on the CBA have stalled, with UASU calling for binding commitments on how the agreement will be financed. The union has also demanded payment of outstanding arrears from the 2017-2021 and 2021-2025 CBAs in full, rejecting a staggered payment arrangement. It has raised concerns over delayed promotions, gratuity payments and changes to lecturers’ salaries through government human resource instruments without consultation.
UASU officials have also raised concerns about funding for public universities, saying delayed exchequer releases have affected the institutions’ operations. The union has opposed lecturers’ salaries being financed through student fees and has called for academic staff to continue being paid through the Exchequer.
The union has further urged lecturers to boycott part-time teaching arrangements, arguing that universities should recruit more full-time academic staff. Wasonga claimed Kenya has about 9,000 lecturers serving more than one million university students, leaving existing staff overstretched.
UASU has also questioned the Government’s plan to fully fund university students, arguing that clearing more than Sh100 billion in pending bills owed to universities should take priority in stabilising the sector.
The union’s planned industrial action now gives the Government, university councils and other parties seven days to address the outstanding issues before lecturers are expected to withdraw their teaching services on October 2.
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