Prison guards stage three-hour strike
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Personnel at Finnish prisons staged a three-hour protest strike on Thursday morning. During the stoppage, inmates were kept in their cells.
The action was called to protest personnel cuts.
During the stoppage, prisoners were not able to go to work, study, exercise, or take part in courses, as only duties essential to security were performed; a handful of guards remained on duty - equivalent to the number that work on a night shift. At the Riihimäki prison 30 guards normally work on a morning shift, but this morning, there were fewer than ten.
Under a state productivity programme, 308 man-work-years are to be cut in the penal system by 2011. Employee organisations say that this would mean reductions of about ten percent in present personnel levels, which would lead to an impossible situation in their view.
Growth in the number of inmates has already led to overcrowding in prisons, as well as to a shortage of money and personnel. Overtime work has increased by more than half since 2002.
The unions say that prison personnel are overworked, which is reflected in rising absenteeism due to illness. The guards fear that new legislation that comes into effect in October will only make the situation worse. The law stipulates that prisoners must be offered activities on a daily basis, which requires work and personnel resources.
Helsingin Sanomat
