Vaslui penitentiary agents' unpaid overtime standoff, understaffing a serious issue

The agents of the Vaslui Penitentiary refuse to further perform their job because of the high number of unpaid overtime hours and understaffing, the Trade Unions Federation of the National Penitentiary Administration (FSANP) said in a release to AGERPRES. 

FSANP calls for the intervention of the Justice Minister, as the penitentiary reports over 1 million unpaid overtime hours. 

The Federation also says that most employees in the executive sector have each piled up more than 180 worked extra hours and in particular cases the number is as high as 360 hours, of which more than half of cannot be recovered in kind. 

FSANP also mentions that last year, the National Penitentiary Administration reported over 590,000 unpaid overtime hours and that this year the figure is in excess of 600,000. 

"Unfortunately, there is a grim difference in reality: the budget of the penitentiaries was reduced in 2017 with the equivalent of a newly built penitentiary (over 30 million euro), 1 in 4 employees has left the system in the last 2 years, the staff shortage stands at over 8,000 people and each year more than half a million unpaid overtime hours are recorded, whilst plans to improve working conditions, as assumed by the minister, have been shelved," FSANP said.