A major crisis is looming in the public universities, with lecturers set to down tools in a dispute over unpaid salary arrears. Learning will be paralysed from today following the government’s failure to effect what was agreed upon last year with the lecturers’ union.

The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) has resolved to have its members withhold services over Sh11.5 billion in the unpaid salary arrears after the government took no action since it issued a seven-day strike notice.

The arrears should have been paid in the implementation of the collective bargaining agreements (CBA) between the universities and the unions covering the period from 2017 to this year. In the stalled 2021-2025 CBA, the government was to pay the university dons in phases what was agreed upon in their return-to-work formula signed last year. Apart from the pay arrears, Uasu also wants negotiations and registration of the 2025-2029 CBA to begin.

The union says the promised improvements in working conditions and the compensation of workers have not happened. The lecturers also want salary and allowance increases and an expansion of retirement and death benefits.

The latest standoff comes just days after the universities reopened for the new academic year, and has sparked fears of disruption of learning.

Last year, a two-week lecturers’ strike was only called off after a day-long meeting at the Ministry of Labour involving the public universities’ representatives and the university unions.

The universities are also grappling with a student funding challenge that threatens the future of higher education. The government has admitted that it cannot shoulder the high cost of higher education. A new funding model introduced over two years ago that categorised applicants into various groups according to their economic status has spectacularly flopped.

The Education ministry, the universities and the union must do everything possible to resolve the standoff.