Schiphol wants to drastically limit the number of companies that provide ground handling at the airport. In this way the fierce competition between the handling companies must come to an end. This would benefit working conditions and safety at Schiphol.
The seven companies that are now active in Amsterdam – including KLM’s ground company – take care of, among other things, the luggage, freight, passenger check-in and escorting aircraft on the apron.
Schiphol CEO Dick Benschop wrote to Minister Mark Harbers (Infrastructure and Water Management, VVD), who is responsible for Schiphol. The letter is dated 12 July but has only now become known.
Also read: Schiphol airport has to shrink and that is the first time
Benschop wants the free market to be abandoned here and argues for ‘regulated market access’. At the moment, any company that brings an airline as a customer and rents a baggage belt can get to work at Schiphol. Benschop also wants to ensure that handlers can share equipment (baggage carts, airplane stairs). The less stuff on the platform, the smaller the chance of accidents.
The plan is a break in the trend. For a long time, competition between handlers resulted in airlines paying relatively little for these facilities. Schiphol thus became one of the cheapest airports in Europe. Minister Harbers recently stated that this must end; Schiphol should no longer be the ‘price fighter’ of European aviation.
Trade unions FNV and CNV have been asking for measures against what they see as cutthroat competition at the airport for some time now. Schiphol has approximately 15,000 employees in handling, such as baggage handlers, ground stewardesses and tanker drivers.
In the social agreement that Schiphol and FNV and CNV in June they not only agreed on a summer bonus and, for after the summer, a (lower) labor market supplement. They also stated that the number of handlers at Schiphol “should be limited as soon as possible”.
Also read: Schiphol ground staff deliberately excluded from investigation into flight safety and working conditions
FNV reacts positively
Campaign leader Joost van Doesburg of FNV Schiphol says in a response that he is very positive about the proposed measure. “Foreign examples show that fewer handlers leads to significantly fewer incidents and more quality.”
There are two ground handling companies at Frankfurt Airport, one of the largest in Europe. Until the bankruptcy of the Italian airline Alitalia, three handlers were active in Rome. The European Union requires that there are at least two land companies at major European airports to prevent a monopoly.
It is still unclear how Schiphol intends to force the number of handlers to decrease. Minister Harbers must quickly set a maximum, says Benschop. This may be followed by a form of public procurement of ground handling services.
How hard work can be as a handler, was shown on Tuesday by research by news hour and NOS. Baggage and cargo companies at Schiphol have had their staff perform too heavy work for years, while the Labor Inspectorate previously said that this was no longer allowed. Many (former) employees have complaints such as pain in the neck, arms, joints and knees.
The FNV is looking into the possibilities of starting a collective lawsuit on behalf of people who work or have worked as baggage handlers at Schiphol and other airports and who have suffered physical complaints as a result.