Teaching and learning activities at public universities across Kenya were paralysed Friday as lecturers and other staff began a nationwide strike, after talks between their unions and university management broke down the previous day.





The strike involves members of the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU), the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU) and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA). Negotiations between the unions and the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) collapsed Thursday at a meeting held at Machakos University, after the unions rejected an annual salary increment of 4 percent, which they described as a mockery, and demanded immediate implementation of the 2025-2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). UASU had proposed basic salary increases ranging from 36 to 68 percent, while KUSU sought increases of between 36 and 113 percent.





UASU Secretary-General Dr. Constantine Wasonga said the union had exhausted all available channels before issuing a seven-day strike notice the previous week, citing the failure of university councils, the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury to honour a return-to-work formula signed on Nov. 5, 2025. "A CBA of four years cannot consume Sh9.76 billion," Wasonga said, arguing the government's proposed figure was comparable to what was allocated under the previous, shorter agreement despite the new CBA's wider scope. "When you see us issue a strike notice, it means we have exhausted all the channels," he added. KUSU Secretary-General Dr. Charles Mukhwaya accused the government of dodging genuine negotiation. A UASU official separately noted that the proposed terms "do not reflect the realities of inflation and service delivery challenges."





Wasonga has said Kenya has roughly 9,000 lecturers serving more than a million university students, leaving existing staff overstretched, and has questioned the government's plan to fully fund university student placements, arguing that clearing more than Sh100 billion in pending bills owed to universities should take priority in stabilising the sector.





Technical trainers hold off, for now





Separately, the Kenya Union of Technical and Vocational Education Trainers (KUTVET) suspended its own planned strike for 14 days pending further negotiations with the Ministry of Education. KUTVET's grievances include opposition to what it calls a rushed curriculum review in TVET institutions, concerns over the handling of national examinations by the TVET Curriculum Development, Assessment and Certification Council, arbitrary transfers and promotions, and calls for enhanced medical cover. The union has warned it will instruct members to down tools on Oct. 19 if its concerns are not addressed.