The ACV (CSC) union secretary Filip Dudal announced that the Antwerp prison staff has spontaneously stopped working on Wednesday, to protest against the lack of staff. The management of the establishment has confirmed this news. According to the latter, however, staff members have deliberately secured a minimum servicing so the police would not need to take over.
According to the Christian Union, the Antwerp prison is confronted to a structural shortage of staff, both regarding the guardians and other services. Filip Dudal also points out that there are also a lot of sick leaves among workers.
He believes that similar actions could be observed in the coming months in other prisons. He criticizes the savings imposed by the federal government. Executives are no longer filled in and the activity does not decrease. The union secretary feels that the non-replacement of retiring staff is particularly critical in the Antwerp prison, as well as in Bruges. According to the ACV-CSC union, this highly threatens prison security. Filip Dudal concludes: "The government has invested a lot around security lately, but apparently not for prisons”.
(Source: Belga)
