UASU Issues Seven-Day Strike Notice Over Unresolved 2025–2029 CBA.
By Fride Amiani
The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) has issued a seven-day notice for a nationwide strike by lecturers in public universities, citing what it describes as the Government’s failure to honour commitments on the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
In a press statement dated Thursday, September 24, 2026, UASU said the strike will begin at midnight on Thursday, October 1, 2026, unless the issues surrounding the agreement are addressed.
The union said the decision follows what it termed 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.
According to UASU, the Government has also failed to provide a financial counter-proposal for the 2025–2029 CBA. The union contrasted the situation with other employees in the public education sector, saying they concluded their 2025–2029 CBAs last year, while academic staff in public universities remain without a similar agreement.
The dispute intensified after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) reportedly informed unions in the university sector on Monday, September 21, that neither the Ministry of Education nor the National Treasury had provided a written commitment that funding for CBAs for public universities would be made available through the National Exchequer.
UASU said the SRC consequently indicated that it could not issue the constitutional advice required to facilitate financial counter-proposals to the unions.
The union said the disclosure raised questions about negotiations that have been taking place at Machakos University since last year. UASU argued that the Government was aware that the National Treasury had not issued the conventional funding commitment required for the negotiations.
Another issue raised by the union concerns the proposed funding model for public university education. UASU said the SRC disclosure appeared to indicate that funding for public university lecturers could be drawn from student fees and market-based funding.
The union rejected this position and maintained that academic staff in public universities are public officers. It said any attempt to remove lecturers from the public officer category through what it described as “back-door mechanisms” would be unacceptable.
UASU further cited the Constitution in arguing that public office is one whose remuneration and benefits are payable directly from the Consolidated Fund or from money provided by Parliament. On that basis, the union said remuneration for academic staff in public universities should be secured through the National Exchequer.
The union also raised concerns over what it described as government pronouncements on university funding and lecturers’ remuneration being made without a published public policy document.
UASU referred to social media statements attributed to Dr David Ndii regarding the funding of students in public universities under a new funding model. The union said it could not be expected to rely on social media declarations or interpret what it described as implied provisions in the proposed Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, 2026, which it noted had not been enacted by Parliament.
The union questioned whether public universities were being transformed into market-based institutions and sought clarification on when and how such a change would have occurred.
Among its demands, UASU wants the 2025–2029 CBA to be negotiated, signed, registered and implemented. It is also demanding that the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury provide the necessary commitment that the agreement covering public university academic staff will be funded through the National Exchequer.
The union is further calling on the Government to cease what it described as attempts to remove public university lecturers from public officer status.
In addition, UASU wants the Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, 2026, which is currently before Parliament according to the statement, to contain an explicit provision safeguarding the remuneration of academic staff from the Exchequer in accordance with the Constitution.
The union is also seeking meaningful participation in the development of human resource instruments for public universities currently being developed by the Public Service Commission. It said such participation would help safeguard the rights of academic staff.
UASU warned that the Government should not abandon public university lecturers, arguing that fairly remunerated academic staff are important to the quality of university education, the future of students and Kenya’s socioeconomic development.
The seven-day notice now sets the stage for renewed engagement between the union and the Government ahead of the October 1 strike deadline.
The statement was signed by UASU Secretary General Dr Constantine Wasonga, PhD.
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