Swissport industrial action at Brussels Airport

[Squelsh]

a few years ago when we had all those extra KE flights none of those overworked bagage loaders wanted to go to the cargo devision to help out for 1 to 3 weeks because they'd have to work harder

There's a reason why the cargo was nicknamed "Siberia" in the SABENA days Or do they still call it that nowadays? Totally different world in that corner of BRU

[cnc]

way too calm at brucargo these days, every time i peak at the warehouse its empty or just a few dolly's being prepared

[Flanker2]

I see constantly at CRL 2 people load and unload the aircraft .... in 25 min. What's the problem?

the problem is those people don't know any better so they do what they are paid for, a lot of flightcare/swissport loaders have known very luxurious/lazy worktimes and they do not want things to change.

I think that the comparison is not correct and the answer is not correct.

1.
CRL luggage loaders have their deal of issues. A lot of them are leaving with health problems or take prolonged leave of sickness. The CRL handling company is also understanding about this, while Swissport will not allow you to take leave for back problems (they will say that"it's part of your job").

2.
Ryanair flights are not luggage heavy nor cargo heavy. Luggage isn't free, so most people stuff everything in the overhead bins so that flights only need 2 loaders for 30 or 40 luggage per full B738. In the summer when a lot of people go on holidays and have many luggage, they will increase this to 3 or 4 per aircraft, on the flights that need them, not all flights.

When luggage is free, people tend to abuse it and take many things they don't need and this results in a huge load of luggage at BRU.

Ryanair's wish is to have no luggage in the hold at all, so they can turn-around faster and don't need to pay expensive handling. They discourage hold luggage with exorbitant prices.

[9vsmu]

CRL is not represantive, as RYR charges for bags, so the average bag/pax is much much lower than on a USA/Africa-bound flt.

Same story in BRU with EZY/EZS

[cnc]

what about all the other flights at CRL? JAF/JFU, ...

[airazurxtror]

Wizzair : free "small" hand baggage (less than 10 kg), paying hold baggage.
Jetairfly : free hand baggage (6 kg max) and 20 kg hold baggage.

Coïncidence, Marcel Buelens, the boss at Swissport Belgium was formerly the boss of Charleroi Airport.
A half-page story of his handling of the crisis in "Le Soir" today page 25.

[BRU]

Yes, at certain times, for sure these guys have to work hard. And yes, it might happen that at a certain time there are only 2 of them. But this is not the general situation. Most times, there are sufficient staff and they have sufficient time to off load and load the aircraft.

But: aircraft are sometimes early, or late, few people on board or a lot of people on board. So yes: there are always unexpected situation causing busy times and heavy workload. Sorry, part of the game.

But they do have an ok worklife. Everytime you have new people in the group, they get the remark: "do not work to hard / relax / this is our aircraft, you do not have to help on the other one standing next to us / ...". Have heard this comment very often from new staff, interim staff or company staff coming form other station in support during peak times. And you know what: I have no problem with that.

But again, stop defending old benefits that do not make sense. Because you will end up with really bad working conditions if you try to defend something which is not correct. How come swissport can have a system in place they use almost all over the world, except in Belgium ??

It is not about making life impossible for these workers, not at all. It is about keeping a system in place that was typical for governement companies such as RTT, the POST and others. They also had to change to normal companies. At the airport, due to the duopoly of Belgavia / Aviapartner and Flightcare, this is something that still has to happen. And yes, as expected, people working there do not like this change. Can not blame them. But does not mean I agree with them form an "outside" point of view. Sooner or later, they will learn themselves...

[sn26567]

From Swissport Belgium:

Dear Passengers,

Due to the exceptional circumstances we are confronted with, we are not able to answer all your e-mails or calls.

Meanwhile the majority of the baggages with final destination BRU are in our hands and this for the airlines listed below.

In order to speed up the recovery of your baggage, you have the possibility to present yourself with your travel documents at the arrival level in the airport.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

[cnc]

well first UA rotations went smoothly.
funny to see how they send loaders from OST to make sure everything was done as it should be

[sn26567]

Posted in another topic:

FWIW- SN seeks for over €4M in financial compensations from Swissport over the strike....
A huge amount, but just figure how tens of thousand of pieces of luggage had to be home delivered to passengers all over Europe, the USA and Africa and how for almost a week their load factor took a noticable hit as high yielding last minute passengers avoided to book SN.
LH/LX -which were forced to cancel all of their flights since none of their long haul connecting passengers could take any luggage- are not amused either and are also going to hand Swissport a multi million euro bill.

[airazurxtror]

First things first : have the inconvenienced passengers been given financial compensations ?
I doubt it (but I may be wrong), as :

http://www.brusselsairlines.com/en_be/m ... tions.aspx

If the cause of the cancellation is beyond the control of the airline, such as political instability, meteorological conditions, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings, strikes or air traffic management decisions, then the above provision on the payment of compensation does not apply and above obligations imposed on us may be limited or excluded.

Nevertheless, the carrier will not be liable for Damage occasioned by delay if it proves that it and its servants and agents took all necessary measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the Damage or that it was impossible for it or them to take such measures.

If Brussels Airlines does not give a compensation to its customers (passengers), I fail to see why Swissport should give a compensation to its customers (airlines).
And if Swissport is willing to give a compensation, it should give it to the passengers who have missed their luggage for days if not weeks.

[RoMax]

If Brussels Airlines does not give a compensation to its customers (passengers), I fail to see why Swissport should give a compensation to its customers (airlines).
And if Swissport is willing to give a compensation, it should give it to the passengers who have missed their luggage for days if not weeks.

Who paid the delivery of the bagage to passenger's homes, who pays for the loss of image, who pays for a decrease in bookings (mainly of business travellers in Europe who often book shortly in advance), extra working hours of their own staff, etc
When you are talking about thousands of pieces of luggage and thousands of passengers, you are also talking about millions. It's not just the passengers that are hit by such a strike...

[cnc]

First things first : have we, the inconvenienced viewers been given financial compensations for reading airazurxtror's trash posts?
I doubt it (but i may be wrong as i haven't checked my bank account yet)

anyway airlines and handlers have a thing called a contract

[airazurxtror]

anyway airlines and handlers have a thing called a contract

So have passengers and airlines - both contracts are void in case of events beyond control, such as strikes.

PS : nobody compels you to read my posts, my dearest friend

[cnc]

anyway airlines and handlers have a thing called a contract

So have passengers and airlines - both contracts are void in case of events beyond control, such as strikes.

PS : nobody compels you to read my posts, my dearest friend

but you have no idea what a contract between an airline and a handler contains
and don't worry i wasn't attacking you this time, just a mellow quote

[OO-ITR]

First things first : have the inconvenienced passengers been given financial compensations ?

Feel free to give us one example of an airline who gave a compensation to their pax because of a handlers strike. I'm waiting impatiently but I'm afraid my question will remain unanswered.

[airazurxtror]

Feel free to give us one example of an airline who gave a compensation to their pax because of a handlers strike.

I thought so.
Thus, if Swissport has to compensate someone, it's the travellers.
And what happens instead ?
" SN seeks for over €4M in financial compensations from Swissport over the strike...."
Some cheek !

[jan_olieslagers]

if Swissport has to compensate someone, it's the travellers.

This is not my cup of tea, but I should think the handler has no way of compensating the travellers directly, because there is no contract? I should think that, IF any compensation happens, it will be handler to airline and/or airline to pax?

[sean1982]

What the hell are you talking about azurxtror? Passengers don't have a contract with swissport, so they have no right to claim or ask compensation from them. That needs to be sought with the airline, therefore the airline, who has a contract, has the right to seek compensation for made costs and image loss. Cheap man, cheap!

[airazurxtror]

Agreed, the passengers have no contract with Swissport; they have a contract with Brussels Airlines, who has a contract with Swissport.
Thus, Brussels Airlines seek a compensation from Swissport in order to allocate that compensation to its prejudiced passengers.
I am sorry, I had not understood at first.