Trade union FNV is concerned about problems at baggage handler Skytanking at Eindhoven Airport. Flights from Ryanair, the only airline at the airport that works with the handler, left without luggage this weekend due to staff shortages and high workload at Skytanking.
“We warned about this”, FNV director, Stijn Jansen, says to Omroep Brabant.
FNV has advocated regulation of the market for baggage handlers. When an airline signs a contract with a handler, they are allowed onto the market, Jansen explains. “They don’t look at whether these companies can keep their promises, how they can find enough staff or how they train people”.
As cheap as possible
Skytanking has been responsible for Ryanair’s baggage handling for a few months now. Before that, the airline worked with Viggo, which was the only handler at Eindhoven Airport until then. Jansen thinks that Viggo was too expensive for Ryanair, which wants to negotiate services as cheaply as possible. “In order to be able to offer tickets for the lowest possible price”, the FNV director says.
Before Skytanking started working at the airport in Eindhoven, the company was still unknown on the Dutch market. That meant that the company had to build up its operations at Eindhoven Airport in a few months, Jansen says. “If that has to be cheaper than elsewhere, that means doing the same work with fewer people. That increases the workload”.
Official warning
The union wants the government and airports to set minimum requirements for companies that want to be active in handling passengers and baggage. “These must include requirements regarding salary, number of permanent contracts and training. In addition, there must also be minimum staffing requirements, with standards for how many people must do the work”, Jansen says.
The Dutch Labour Inspectorate previously reported that it was investigating Skytanking. The inspectorate did not want to say what the reason for this was; it did say that the handler received an official warning in June about the working conditions. Ryanair and Skytanking were not available for comment.
Source: Studio040
Translated by Bob
