UASU has ended its nationwide strike following a Sh20 billion agreement with the government.
The union has secured phased funding, salary increases and protections for lecturers as public universities prepare to resume normal operations.
The UASU strike has ended after the union reached a Sh20 billion agreement with the government. The deal provides funding to implement the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreements for public university academic staff.
Universities Academic Staff Union Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga announced the decision on Friday, October 31. The strike began on October 2 and disrupted teaching, learning and research for nearly a month.
The agreement followed talks with the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum under an Inter-Ministerial Committee. It clears the way for lecturers to return to work and universities to resume normal operations.
UASU strike deal sets phased payments
Under the agreement, the government will release Sh20 billion in three instalments across three financial years. It will provide Sh6.7 billion in 2026/2027, another Sh6.7 billion in 2027/2028 and Sh6.6 billion in 2028/2029.
Lecturers will also receive a 3.5 per cent annual basic salary increase for four years, backdated to July 1, 2025. In addition, the agreement provides for an automatic annual salary increment of five per cent.
The deal also harmonises and raises commuter, leave, and passage and baggage allowances for most academic staff. For outstanding payments, the parties agreed to settle salary and allowance arrears for July 2025–June 2026 in three instalments.
However, lecturers will receive arrears covering July 1 to December 31, 2026 alongside their January 2027 salaries.
Lecturers secure protection against victimisation
The return-to-work agreement also requires the withdrawal of disciplinary proceedings initiated against employees during the strike. For lecturers on contract, participation in the industrial action will not provide grounds to deny renewal.
Meanwhile, UASU assured members that the signed formula protects them against victimisation, including union officials and contract staff. Wasonga described the settlement as a difficult compromise that required concessions from the union.
He said UASU had weighed students’ disrupted education against academic staff’s rights to dignified working conditions, collective bargaining and pension security. He also thanked the Ministry of Education and National Treasury for funding the agreements.
The union thanked students for their patience and urged them to return to their studies immediately. As normal operations resume, public universities face the task of addressing academic time lost during the walkout.
