28/08/2011 Flightcare work stoppage at Brussels Airport

[airazurxtror]

Another Flightcare strike at BRU today :
http://www.rtl.be/info/belgique/societe ... flightcare

Disturbances in Brussels airport were reported to our colleagues BEL RTL. The reason: a work stoppage by baggage handlers society Flightcare. The porters complained of a severe lack of staff. Staff met with management, which resulted in delays in baggage handling. Over a thousand passengers are concerned.
The unions had launched a strike in late July, up from promises of management to hiring and team composition. "Last week, we have found that several agreements were not respected, especially regarding the composition of teams. Sunday, due to flight delays, work has accumulated, which reacted workers. the union meetings were held, during which the work was stopped, which caused the delay for travelers, "said Kurt Callaerts (CSC-Transcom, Christian trade union)." The management have promised that teams composed of two people would be doubled ", said Olivier Dufrasne, Steward FGTB - UBOT before continuing" the porters would be three to unload six tons of luggage. "
The passengers complained that they had no information during the day for their luggage. No message was distributed by Brussels airport. At last, the delays caused by baggage handlers a real mess to travelers.

[danieln]

Passengers were told that there were "technical problems". Unions and airport authorities should not lie to their customers. We are not as stupid as they think we are.

[caveman]

I happened to be in the chaos, on a return flight from Gotheborg.
Some points observed:

* while approaching Brussels, a crew anouncement of "ground staff strike" was made in swedish(!) and english ... nothing in french or dutch.
* around 1000 people waiting for the luggage that didn't arrive, NOT a single official explaining what was happening
* at a certain moment flights started to dissappear from the screens ... so no more info
* at the BA luggage counter only one staff member, who evidently got overrun by questions and angry customers
* after about 2 hours waiting things started to move again. Gotheborg was again mentioned on bay 1 ... but no luggage appeared on the belt.
* checking the other belts ... we eventually found our stuff on bay 2

Lesson learned : as a customer you're always the weak part in the chain ... whatever happens you're always the one that "pays the bill".
Question to the Unions : when you create chaos why don't you step forward and face the angry crowd ... maybe we would understand your point, and you would at least face the angry people that pay your wages!

[shockcooling]

...NOT a single official explaining what was happening...

sorry for the bad remark, but on a Sunday evening ...

[fretn]

Keep on striking I guess, it's not always the answer...

[cnc]

Keep on striking I guess, it's not always the answer...

it never is

[Novastar]

still wondering why Aviapartner lost the handling contract.. and not "Strikecare"

[SN056M]

still wondering why Aviapartner lost the handling contract.. and not "Strikecare"

Yes,aviapartner is good...they should have got a new licence,not flightcare...they s*ck in every way imho..
I was wondering why the JAF flight from rhodes was delayed for 4 hrs....now i know why !

[Darjeeling]

You're right guys, it's better to be f****d up by the managers and to shut up.

Those lazy workers are three men to offload an A330-300 or a 767, tomorrow it'll be done by two men (was already seen by the way) and who knows only one man in 2015.

Like this you'll wait three hours for your beloved bags by then. And the managers will be over the moon in their well earned company E200CDI as their productivity tragets will be reached.

Keep it up.

[Novastar]

right back at ya...

It's ofcourse better to strike and take hundreds or thousands of pax hostage, f****** up their (expensive) travel plans ??

I was unhappy about how things went in my previous job... so I left and got another job. Ring a bell ? anybody ?

[caveman]

As a fare-paying passenger I would have at least liked to have seen some representatives explaining to me what happened, unions don't have the guts to face the people they're annoying. And BA of-course was thinking ... it's not our problem.

As so often the customer is the weak point in the chain ... maybe we ought to strike, so unions and firms do know who pays their wages.

[flightlover]

right back at ya...

It's ofcourse better to strike and take hundreds or thousands of pax hostage, f****** up their (expensive) travel plans ??

I was unhappy about how things went in my previous job... so I left and got another job. Ring a bell ? anybody ?

And how long will it take before it will become passenger handeling themselfs due to no workers anymore? It's easy to say, don't like it then search another job. Maybe there is nothing wrong with the job as such and it has all to do with the conditions created by overpaid managers???

A task usualy done by 6, can be done in exceptional situations by less. However if in stead of 6, 4 becomes the norm. Then yes people will get grumpy about it and get more willing to stop working.

Think about that.

[9vsmu]

@caveman OFF TOPIC.

I don't mind that you use abbreviations, but I suggest that if you do so : use the correct ones.

BA = British Airways and not Brussels Airlines or even Brussels Airport.

[caveman]

@9vsmu sorry my mistake: thank you

[cnc]

Those lazy workers are three men to offload an A330-300 or a 767, tomorrow it'll be done by two men (was already seen by the way) and who knows only one man in 2015.

oh c'mon teams are always made of 3
the widebody a/c's always have a team to load/unload the ULD's and a team for the bulk.
there are times when i see them with 3 teams to load a 737 with 70% LF
they go inside every hour or after 2 to 3 flights
the only people who have reason to complain are the red caps and the cargo warehouse workers