Teacher unions’ strategies enhancing welfare benefits for teachers in Kenya. A case of Kenya National Union of Teachers

Abstract

Teacher unions seek through collective negotiation and bargaining with employers to improve benefits of their members. It is the desire of teachers to benefit from their unions as well as secure protection against unfair labour practices. This study was carried to investigate Teacher unions’ strategies enhancing welfare benefits for teachers in Kenya taking the case of Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT). The study used descriptive survey design. The target population was 8320 primary school teachers and nine KNUT branch officials. Stratified sampling and simple random sampling were used to select a sample 830 teachers. Purposive sampling was used to select nine KNUT officials. The study used questionnaire for teachers and interview guide for KNUT officials as the instruments for the study. Content validity of the research instruments was ascertained through piloting of the test items while reliability of the questionnaires and the interviews was ascertained by a test-re-test technique. The data was analyzed by use of SPSS programme. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data and presented in frequency tables. Interview guide responses were reported in verbatim. The conclusion of the study was that KNUT was highly involved in enhancing issues concerning the welfare of teachers. The study recommends that the union should diversify motivational programs for teachers to continue promoting the welfare benefits for teachers in Kenya