What led KLM employees to their ‘wild’ strike?
The first is the work pressure they experience. Even without strikes, chaotic scenes were lurking at Schiphol because of the holiday period. This is due to ongoing staff shortages. For example, KLM, the largest airline at Schiphol, has too few ramp employees. These are the people who load and unload luggage and cargo and connect the stairs with which passengers disembark.
Due to the shortage, the workload is enormous, KLM itself acknowledges. Last year employees had to work a lot of overtime, they got little rest after night shifts and they experienced a lot of stress, according to trade union FNV† He fears a high absenteeism due to illness this year.
There is also dissatisfaction with wages, says Joost van Doesburg, Schiphol campaign manager at FNV. He is in contact with the disgruntled KLM staff, although the union was not involved in this ‘wild’ strike. The airline offers new platform employees a salary from 11.72 euros per hour, slightly more than the permitted minimum wage.
According to Van Doesburg, there is also little prospect of a permanent appointment. These employment conditions are an important cause of staff shortages, he thinks. “People don’t come for that anymore.”
Why strike now, on one of the busiest days of the year?
The straw that broke the camel’s back would have been the internal announcement that KLM wants to outsource work to the independent handling company Viggo. According to KLM, the measure is intended to relieve the pressure on its own platform employees, but FNV member Van Doesburg understands why this went wrong.
The perception is that instead of trying to solve the shortages within KLM by improving the working conditions, the management is turning to an external company. Some of the staff fear for their own job because of this. ‘I’ve tasted a lot of anger since Thursday night. People were white-hot,” says the trade unionist.
A KLM spokesperson points out that staff shortages are a factor at many companies due to a shortage on the labor market. The strikers spoke on Saturday with René de Groot, KLM’s operational director. According to the company, it was about “the shortage of staff, the high workload and things like long-term job retention.” The talks will be continued in the coming period, KLM promises.
‘Unfortunately’ no promises have been made, says Van Doesburg. According to him, the employees went back to work because it threatened to become unsafely busy.
Wasn’t a new collective labor agreement recently concluded for passenger and baggage handling at Schiphol, applauded by the FNV?
True, but that collective labor agreement applies to six independent handling companies, not to KLM. These companies were in a ‘race to the bottom‘, with all the negative consequences for staff. This must have been stopped with the new collective labor agreement.
Among other things, they are now raising wages to at least 14 euros. Also, at least 80 percent of the employees must ultimately be in permanent employment on the basis of an employment contract.
KLM’s handlers are covered by the company collective labor agreement for ground staff. FNV is in talks with the airline to make new agreements for them too, says Van Doesburg.
And the travelers who missed their flight on Saturday, what can they do now?
Affected travelers should contact their airline themselves, whether they flew with KLM or not. This applies to the people whose flights were canceled as a result of the strike, but also to the travelers who would fly before 3 p.m. and to whom the call was made to stay away from Schiphol.
The airlines must see flights to book and give money back to those who cannot be helped. According to the national government, they must also reimburse a necessary hotel stay. KLM reported that some of the travelers could still leave on Saturday, while others will only be able to leave on Sunday or later.
‘Fortunately, we see that a large part of the holiday flights, for example from Transavia and Corendon, have been able to depart reasonably unscathed’, says Frank Oostdam, chairman of the General Dutch Association of Travel Companies (ANVR). ‘Except for KLM’s, it was quite a drama there.’ Anyone who has booked a package holiday is also compensated by the travel organization for lost vacation time, he says.
He blames Schiphol for calling on all travelers to stay away on Saturday. ‘Would have ensured that only KLM customers had stayed at home. Now everyone has a problem.’ He finds it irresponsible that the strikers stopped working unannounced on one of the busiest days of the year.
Claims agencies, which help travelers claim compensation, noticed extra pressure on their own sites on Saturday. Anyone flying with KLM may be able to receive up to 600 euros in compensation, although this depends on whether this unexpected strike was a case of force majeure or not. That will have to be determined by a judge.