Union calls for more staff, setting priorities at administrative units amid floods
Ljubljana, 9 August - SDOS, the trade union representing civil servants, has urged the government to set priorities for administrative units around the country or hire more staff, arguing they are faced with a shortage of staff and overload. The situation is bound to get worse when many start turning to administrative units post-floods, it said on Wednesday.
SDOS president Frančišek Verk wrote its members inform the union daily about overload, staff shortages and cases of poor management, and thus reduced efficiency at certain units.
The union expects that many more customers will be coming to "the doors and counters of administrative units, municipalities, Financial Administration offices and other public institutions" to sort out their damage-related affairs in the coming weeks and months.
This will affect all residents seeking administrative services as well as foreigners, such as migrants and migrant workers.
Verk urged all civil servants to do their best to ensure that "our fellow citizens who have suffered enormous damage" do not have to wait too long for their applications to be resolved so that the country gets back to normal as soon as possible.
He urged the Public Administration Ministry to provide the additional staff and funds needed for civil servants to carry out this "extensive and demanding work" in the shortest possible time.
He said the union had unofficial information that in July the government took away considerable funds that state administration bodies need for normal work.
Prompted by the weather situation, the union froze the September strike at the Ljubljana Administrative Unit, the one the most overwhelmed with customers, and a lawsuit it plans to file against the state.
The union said it is aware of the hardship of the poorly paid administrative units employees "who are under great pressure from an abundance of foreigners as well as their advocates and legal representatives who exert pressure on the doors and counters of administrative units on a daily basis".
It thus urged the government to set the priorities for administrative procedures or hire more staff. "The problem has arisen when it comes to deciding who has priority in treatment, the foreigners arriving in the country or the suffering residents of Slovenia who have lost their roofs in the extreme weather."