Swissport industrial action at Brussels Airport

[Flanker2]

But 3-4 hour contracts, is that reality? That means if people wants a decent salary to cover all their costs they need 2 maybe 3 jobs? They have children, a house, a car.

Some people do want these contracts.

"When you loose a contract you have to adapt"? How would you do that?

Reducing the number of staff. Why do you need the same amount of employees when your loose contracts. Maybe you can ask the new company to take over your employees, but in any industry you size the company to the amo9unt of work there is.

The supply for 3 hour jobs is not sufficient to cover the demand. If that were possible, AP and Swissport would hire everyone on 3 hour contracts. Be realistic, who wants to waste 1 hour between the commute and preparing to go to work, going through badge and security for 3 hours of work and salary? Forget it.
Plus rush hour in BRU is right around the time you take your kids to and from school.

In Swissport's case, the size of the workforce is too close to the amount of work. In any service company who wants to make it long-term, you have to find the right balance between pricing and service by tweaking the workforce. You can save money short-term by forcing unsustainable situations, but then things like this happen. Down time during the job isn't the employee's problem, the employer offered them the contract so it's their problem. The employee's are still at the company's service even if it's downtime.

In these situations, SN asks its ground staff to volunteer during their off-time to go help unload luggage. After unloading one RJ85 with 2 guys in the cold wet rain with the noise of engines and APU's, believe me that you want to go home. Forget the charm of spotting, spend one day with these guys and you will never spot another day. You will win a whole new appreciation for the guys who "throw your luggage".

[BRU]

The supply for 3 hour jobs is not sufficient to cover the demand. If that were possible, AP and Swissport would hire everyone on 3 hour contracts. Be realistic, who wants to waste 1 hour between the commute and preparing to go to work, going through badge and security for 3 hours of work and salary? Forget it.
Plus rush hour in BRU is right around the time you take your kids to and from school.

Down time during the job isn't the employee's problem, the employer offered them the contract so it's their problem. The employee's are still at the company's service even if it's downtime.

Yes it is, for peaks 3 or rather 4 or 5 hour contracts are perfect in combination with other staff that have full time contracts. It is not that you only need part time contracts, but a mix. And trust me, these people exist. Aviapartner found them when they got the contract of JAF. There are people who choose, for whatever reason, not to work full time. Becuase they still study, have children, ... have their own company but like to be part time working in a firm for their social security, ...

Down time is indeed the problem of the employer. That is why they want part time contracts and split shifts !?!! But unions have to accept that this can be done.

And I do not think that a 3rd handler will make working conditions less interesting. Again, sufficient social protection in this country to avoid that. But, contrary what Flanker wrote, it is not BRU being responsable for only having 2 handlers. It is national governement who decided this. For several reasons they say. But the same politicians also decided that LGG would become an open market and anybody can start a handling company in LGG. No restrictions at all.

Welcome to Belgium...

[SNam]

And the productivity of those part time contracts? Delays, weather conditions, they don't want to stay any longer or the company doesn't allow this.

And cnc, you must have had some bad experiences at Flightcare, no? Not any good word for the staff.

[cnc]

And the productivity of those part time contracts? Delays, weather conditions, they don't want to stay any longer or the company doesn't allow this.

And cnc, you must have had some bad experiences at Flightcare, no? Not any good word for the staff.

on a personal level i liked about everyone but being nice doesn't make the planes leave on time.
i hate the attitude of most of them and yes! in a way it bothered me to work my ass off and trying to keep pax and airlines happy while most collegues go on strikes, rather go wait in the car or inside then to assist a team working in a stand next to them...
they will always have my smile and a good day but i'll rather die then lie and tell them how good they work

[SNam]

I understand your frustrations but i think you are a bit too general as there are enough good guys working over there that want to work and get things going.

[cnc]

I understand your frustrations but i think you are a bit too general as there are enough good guys working over there that want to work and get things going.

very true but they don't make a stand and say things must chance. yes management can be very unreasonable but i know the swissport management and they really do reward people with the right attitude and motivation. sadly the unions and some of the old sabena "elite" prevent this.

[LJ]

But do you really think this is sustainable for the future working with fewer and fewer personnel in every industry?

I don't think we have a choice. Unless we all want to pay more (which I'll doubt will happen) companies have no choice in becoming more effecient. Let's face it, the number of people willing to pay a fair price for a service or product is still very low. Moreover, the number of people living in Europe will decrease in the next few years, which mean less workers and therefore you've to ensure you can work with less employees.

[sn26567]

Photo Brussels Airlines

Yes, even Bernard Gustin, the CEO of Brussels Airlines, is loading bags!

Now that spirits are cooling down and that the strike has come to end (although there are still negotiations), we should try to draw some conclusions:

• The trade unions certainly have a point when they say they are understaffed. The fact that the boss of Swissport had to come from Denmark to promise more staff and to stop the strike tells a lot (also about the freedom of the Belgian management to negotiate...)
• As usual, the passengers were the innocent victims of the strike. How long will it take to get all the bags back to their owner?
• The image of Brussels Airport and Belgium has again been damaged: no wonder that the Government ultimately had to intervene, together with the Airport management.
• The strikers have acted illegally in at least two circumstances: first when they declared the strike without first giving a strike notice (striking is a right, but some rules have to be followed), and second when they prevented airline staff to take care of the baggage of their passengers; that was enough to justify the intervention of airport management and government.

Let's hope now that life at the airport will soon resume its normal course.

[Flanker2]

Excellent summary.

Regarding refusing access to handling equipment, actually Wathelet's is acting outside his authority and the handling team leaders acted rightfully in denying this access.
Personnel with no training on handling and on the vehicles and equipment concerned shall not be allowed to operate said equipment. A handling operation without a defined structure respecting the IATA AHM, responsibilities, post holders and insurance coverage is totally illegal from an aviation perspective and the handler has a responsibility to withhold the use of the equipment by its own insurance company, regardless of whether one amateur government representative say this or that.
If an accident happens and a person is hurt or an aircraft damaged, is the government going to foot the bill if the insurance denies the claim? Then we're not talking about 20.000 delayed luggage but real damage in millions.

Referring to the pic of Gustin loading luggage in hangar 41, it's none of my business but stashing luggage in the middle of a maintenance hangar is very bad practice from a Part 145 point of view. With all the empty buildings they have at the airport, why did they need to stash it right in the middle of SN's maintenance hangar?

[AirOpinion]

Regarding refusing access to handling equipment, actually Wathelet's is acting outside his authority and the handling team leaders acted rightfully in denying this access.
Personnel with no training on handling and on the vehicles and equipment concerned shall not be allowed to operate said equipment. A handling operation without a defined structure respecting the IATA AHM, responsibilities, post holders and insurance coverage is totally illegal from an aviation perspective and the handler has a responsibility to withhold the use of the equipment by its own insurance company, regardless of whether one amateur government representative say this or that.
If an accident happens and a person is hurt or an aircraft damaged, is the government going to foot the bill if the insurance denies the claim? Then we're not talking about 20.000 delayed luggage but real damage in millions.

I totally agree here... The IATA Aircraft Handling Manual is the holy bible for ground operators!

Btw: Regarding the productivity: If you work at a productivity of 100% you are not able to adapt to operational situations. I think however that this should be one of the strenghts of a good handler. Then again do you really think that quality will increase by augmenting the productivity of the workers to 100%?

In a simple calculation that will mean:
2 flights per hour x 8 working hours per day x 1200 kg per flight = 19200 kg a day
That's an end of discussion for me...

[sean1982]

Seriously? Shall the cabin crew then go on strike for the trolley's being to heavy if we add them all together and the amount of times we remove them and push them up and down the cabin in a days time. Or the amount of litres of water we lift measured in X times 0.5l bottles?? Get real please ... oh wait ... sorry ... unions .... no reality there

[convair]

2 flights per hour x 8 working hours per day x 1200 kg per flight = 19200 kg a day

I could follow your calculation. Now what is your point?

[cnc]

not to mention that an average of 1200kg per flight way too much is

[flightlover]

Seriously? Shall the cabin crew then go on strike for the trolley's being to heavy if we add them all together and the amount of times we remove them and push them up and down the cabin in a days time. Or the amount of litres of water we lift measured in X times 0.5l bottles?? Get real please ... oh wait ... sorry ... unions .... no reality there

Trolleys have wheels and don't have to be stacked. And there is quite a difference in weight between a bottle of 0.5L and baggage of 20Kg. I can however sympathize if one of the wheels of the trolley gets blocked.

No doubt cabin crew have a stressing job. I wouldn't want to switch with them. But to say they have to lift a huge amount of weight?

[flightlover]

not to mention that an average of 1200kg per flight way too much is

With 60 pax you only need 1 bag per pax filled to the allowed 20Kg to have that weight. And then you don't count bulk cargo in that number.

[OO-ITR]

Seriously? Shall the cabin crew then go on strike for the trolley's being to heavy if we add them all together and the amount of times we remove them and push them up and down the cabin in a days time. Or the amount of litres of water we lift measured in X times 0.5l bottles?? Get real please ... oh wait ... sorry ... unions .... no reality there

Trolleys have wheels and don't have to be stacked. And there is quite a difference in weight between a bottle of 0.5L and baggage of 20Kg. I can however sympathize if one of the wheels of the trolley gets blocked.

No doubt cabin crew have a stressing job. I wouldn't want to switch with them. But to say they have to lift a huge amount of weight?

Ever tried pushing a full beverage trolley up to the front of an A330 in the air? I guarantee you. A nice excercise.
Or changing double beverage containers from position.

[cnc]

not to mention that an average of 1200kg per flight way too much is

With 60 pax you only need 1 bag per pax filled to the allowed 20Kg to have that weight. And then you don't count bulk cargo in that number.

on a lot of flights you don't get 60 pax so let alone 60 pax with 20kg bags

[Passenger]

The strike was discussed in the Belgian federal parliament on Thursday 16th May 2013. See topic n° 10 in this document:

web-version:
http://www.dekamer.be/doc/PCRI/html/53/ip142x.html
pdf-version:
http://www.dekamer.be/doc/PCRI/pdf/53/ip142.pdf

Remarks : the above text is only the provisional report. Members of Parliament are now given two weeks to correct errors.

One MP said this yesterday: "...Ik wil erop wijzen dat het Europees Parlement op 18 april 2013 een nieuwe verordening heeft goedgekeurd waardoor men in de grote luchthavens met meer dan 15.000 passagiers per jaar van twee naar drie bagageafhandelaars moet gaan..."

Translated : "a new EU Rule states that airports with more then 15.000 passengers per year must have at least three luggage handlers instead of two".

Fifteen thousand. So Antwerp, Ostend, Liège, Charleroi : get ready !

[RoMax]

Translated : "a new EU Rule states that airports with more then 15.000 passengers per year must have at least three luggage handlers instead of two".

From two to three for airports handling more then 15.000/year??? EIN for example is still doing it with one (Viggo Handling), despite operating almost 3 million passengers. Last month I saw a presentation of someone working for Viggo and they said that EIN would be forced to license a second handler if they exceed 3 million but that they (Viggo and EIN) are trying to find something out which allows them to keep Viggo as the only handler.
But my point is, suddenly airports that have only one handler would need 3 of them? Something doesn't seem to be right. Are you sure these 15.000 is per year? Especially because in Dutch they say "big airports" followed by "15.000 per year"...I'm not that smart, but smart enough to know that such airports are not big at all. 15.000 per day would be more reasonable and BRU has more than 15.000/day.

[cnc]

they should allow 3, not need 3.
CRL only has the airport handling, OST has a good chance of falling back to only aviapartner after summer,...