MOMBASA, Kenya — Staff at the Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) have downed tools over the delayed implementation of the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), concerns about university funding, and changes to negotiated human resource instruments.
The strike, launched on Friday, brings together academic and non-academic staff unions, who say they will remain off duty until the government addresses their grievances and implements the agreement in full.
The unions said the government had failed to honour an undertaking made last year to negotiate, sign, register and implement the CBA.
Speaking during the strike launch, Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) TUM chapter secretary Professor Ochieng Odalo said the government had also failed to meet an agreed 30-day window for negotiations.
“We are on strike for mainly three issues,” Odalo said, citing the delayed CBA negotiations, university funding and changes to human resource instruments.
The unions have also raised concerns about proposals that could use students’ fees to finance staff salaries in public universities.
Odalo said university employees are public officers and their salaries should be financed through government allocations rather than fees paid by students.
He further criticised the proposed Higher Education Placement and Funding Bill, arguing that it should establish a clear framework for financing university operations and staff remuneration through government funding.
The unions are also opposed to changes made to human resource instruments following discussions between staff representatives and university management.
Odalo called for the documents to be reopened for negotiations and agreed upon by all parties before being forwarded to the Public Service Commission.
Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) TUM chapter deputy secretary Ichingwa Justus said the dispute had persisted despite assurances given during an earlier strike.
“We have given our offer. The government side has not brought their offer,” Justus said.
He said the unions were demanding the full negotiation, signing, registration and implementation of the 2025–2029 CBA, including settlement of outstanding payments owed to university staff.
KUSU deputy treasurer Ritah Mong’ina said the unions would maintain the strike until their concerns were addressed.
“KUSU, UASU, and KUDHEIHA have given out their reasons, and those reasons should be heard,” she said.
KUDHEIHA representative Joseph Musyoka said the union had issued a strike notice but had not received a satisfactory response from the government.
The industrial action adds to ongoing tensions in Kenya’s public university sector over staff remuneration, funding and collective bargaining agreements.
The unions said their members would remain off duty until the government responds to their demands.
