A baggage surcharge of 2 to 3 euros per airline ticket could soon be implemented at Schiphol to help recruit additional baggage handlers. Subcontracting companies don’t have enough staff to handle the busy holiday season which is set to start already in May. Edwin van der Linden, human resources director of handling company Viggo and chairman of employers’ association WPBL, believes that only if the airlines start paying more can the wages of baggage handlers rise fast enough to attract new workers. Airlines would in turn pass those costs on to travelers.
Van der Linden does not look forward to the summer with confidence. According to him, the industry faces a difficult task because of the large pay increase security guards at Schiphol received earlier to solve staff shortages.
In early September of 2022, security staff left the airport to look for jobs elsewhere and airlines were once again forced to cancel flights. Chaos ensued. The response from the airport was to pass the fault onto the staff, saying that “Staffing levels at security are lower than what we had requested of the security companies.”
Flights between 16:00 and 23:00 were cancelled, while a lot of passengers simply missed their trips due to the long waiting times. Schiphol indicated that the passengers affected by the delays and cancellations, as well as those who missed their flights because of the queues can apply for compensation from the airport.
During the months of July and August, Schiphol offered an extra hourly allowance to employees, which incentivized people to stay or even specifically apply for jobs at the airport, explained FNV, the union representing the employees.
According to van der Linden, handling companies just don’t have any money at all to make working conditions considerably more attractive. He explained that in terms of revenue, the handling companies are stuck with multi-year contracts with the airlines.
For the approximately 4,000 handlers, there has been an industry-wide collective bargaining agreement since last year. It was agreed that wages at the bottom will go up by about a quarter over three years, van der Linden said. This is done in steps, with the result that the wages of handlers are currently still much lower than for security guards.
Van der Linden nuanced the image of the incredibly difficult working conditions that handlers sometimes have to endure. According to him, there are also baggage robots, which can take over heavy work from employees. “That makes a huge difference. Aviation is actually very interesting to work in.”
If the lack of handlers is not solved within a few weeks, Schiphol’s CEO Ruud Sondag wants to intervene. According to Dutch media he has underlined that the cap on the number of travelers allowed to leave the airport each day may soon be needed again. Currently, the cap is set to expire in March of this year.
