Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1989, published 76th ILC session (1989)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Kenya (Ratification: 1964)

With reference to its previous direct request, the Committee notes from the Government's report, that there are no collective agreements in the "public sector" since the Kenyan civil service is not unionised. It notes, however, that the terms and conditions of employment (wages and other terms and conditions of employment) of public servants, including teachers, are regulated by Civil Service Review Commissions or Committees).

The Committee takes due note of the fact that, according to available information, the representatives of the employees concerned sit on the Civil Service Review Committees.

The Committee points out, however, that although Article 6 of the Convention does not deal with the situation of public servants engaged in the administration of the State, this exclusion only concerns public servants in the strict sense of the term (in this connection, see paragraph 255 of the 1983 General Survey of the Committee of Experts on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining). As a consequence, teachers cannot be considered to be similar to public servants engaged in the administration of the State and must, therefore, enjoy the principle of free collective bargaining set out in Article 4 of the Convention.

The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate in its next report the measures that have been taken to give Kenyan teachers the right to organise and bargain collectively their terms and conditions of employment.