FNV is preparing a class action lawsuit against the luggage and shipping companies in Schiphol. The union is doing this after the joint research editorial board of NOS and Nieuwsuur showed in September that these companies allowed their employees to do grueling work for years despite being aware of the health risks. FNV then opened a helpline and has since received more than 400 notifications. The union’s lawyer wants compensation, which amounts to hundreds of thousands of euros per person.
Meanwhile, the labor inspectorate carried out heavy labor inspections again after a twelve-year hiatus. In confidential reports submitted to the investigative editorial team, the supervisor states that the job requires too much physical effort and violates the companies’ Occupational Health and Safety Act.
FNV mainly received reports from Schiphol employees who had back, shoulder and knee complaints. “The number surprised us because the threshold for employees to come forward by name is high,” says FNV attorney Daphne van Doorn, who reviewed the reports with her team. “This shows how big the problem is.”
Less important evidence
Normally, workers have to prove that their physical problems are due directly to the nature of the job and not, for example, to smoking or being overweight. But because there is a large group with the same type of complaints and companies know the job is too heavy, and they also order very few lifting aids, less substantial evidence of causal link needs to be presented, says Van Doorn. “The practitioners have violated their maintenance duties, so all you have to do now is to make it reasonable that your complaints may stem from this work.”
The Labor Inspectorate has now visited the luggage companies and actually found all sorts of shortcomings. Employees carry baggage “mostly by hand” when lifting aids are “not working, unused or unavailable”.
Check out an earlier reconstruction by Nieuwsuur, photos taken by staff behind the scenes:
Visiting the airport, the Labor Inspectorate found that both shipping and baggage companies had violated the Working Conditions Act. The necessary risk assessments are also not accurate in many companies.
The physical stress that workers are subjected to is very high – three times what is “reasonable”. HSK also established it twelve years ago, but then gave up oversight for a long time.
Fine of 300 euros per minute
The inspectors took many statements from the managers of the luggage companies during their checks. For example, one manager says, “no action was taken to prevent or limit physical exertion.” “The culture in the luggage room is manual loading/unloading,” says a team leader from another company. Another team leader attributes the high workload to airlines imposing a “300 euros per minute fine” for non-compliance with agreed deadlines.
The supervisory authority’s prerequisite includes automating the luggage cellar within two years. In practice, this means a complete renovation, but Schiphol explained that he does not intend to start building such a renovated cellar until 2026.
Faster and cheaper than ever
The airport acknowledges that no structural improvements have yet been made to heavy lifting, but stresses that, as some handlers have pointed out, a crane trial is currently underway and more pilots of this type will follow. The supervisory authority is now discussing this and will publish a final specification in April.
Ernst Harderwijk, a company doctor at a predominantly freight forwarding company in Schiphol, wonders why the regulator hasn’t stopped work. “I think they could, and it would actually be a good thing if they did,” he says. He recently decided to terminate his contract because nothing will change according to him.
For him, this is a “money problem” stemming from the business model on which Schiphol relies. Fierce competition between six different shipping companies that need to work faster and cheaper. “Maybe literally on the backs of employees,” the outgoing company doctor said.
A second company doctor in Schiphol, who asked not to be named, says the baggage handler he works for sees the NOS and Nieuwsuur broadcasts as “bad publicity”, but otherwise laughs at it. “Very little or nothing happens, which is very frustrating as a doctor.”
He thinks the Labor Inspectorate should be much tougher. “Two years is too long. If you wait that long, dozens of your extra workers will soon be disabled.” According to him, the inspection needs to stop carrying business at the airport. “Then you will find that changes can happen suddenly very quickly.”
extraordinary movement
The FNV helpline was set up in September by former union leader Joost van Doesburg. He has recently made a notable transition to Head of Freight at Schiphol. Workers say this has caused dissatisfaction in some sections of the union. Furthermore, it appears that FNV has not entered into any confidentiality agreement with Van Doesburg regarding these files.
FNV says it “assumed” that Van Doesburg would not provide any information from personal reports to his new employer, Schiphol. “The FNV laptop is with us and not in Schiphol,” says FNV attorney Daphne van Doorn. Or is there no cut? “I can’t guarantee that, but I trust your professionalism,” the lawyer said.
Source: NOS
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
