Unions have warned that there could be a repeat of the chaotic scenes this weekend at Schiphol airport unless KLM addresses their grievances about working conditions before the summer.

Baggage handlers staged a six-hour walkout on Saturday morning, triggering two days of delays and cancellations at the start of the May school holiday, one of the busiest weekends of the year.

The stoppage had knock-on effects on other travel routes, with all Eurostar trains fully booked and access roads to Schiphol shut off as around 150 flights were scrapped over the weekend.

Unions said simmering discontent among staff boiled over after KLM sent out an email last week informing them of plans to outsource some of the baggage handling jobs.

Michiel Wallaard, an official with CNV Vakmensen, said: ‘In 2020 KLM left all the flexible workers in the lurch on the assumption that they would come back. The management has done absolutely nothing to make themselves more appealing as an employer.’

Travel trade concern

Baggage handlers have called for their pay to be raised from €11.50 an hour – just above the minimum wage of €11.06 – to €14 and measures to be taken to reduce their workload.

KLM has argued that one of the purposes of outsourcing jobs is to reduce the pressure on staff.

Frans Oostdam, chair of the travel trade association ANVR, sad that the unrest combined with a surge in bookings after two years of pandemic restrictions was likely to cause problems in the peak season.

‘It’s up to the airlines and Schiphol to make sure things are in order, but I’m not sure they can manage it,’ Oostdam told the Telegraaf.

High sickness absence caused by coronavirus infections is creating gaps in staff rotas and increasing the strain on colleagues, with unions FNV and De Unie warning of further strikes if the issues are not resolved soon.

‘There is a lot of discontent but the management seem to have little understanding of it,’ said De Unie spokesman Reinier Castelein. ‘There is support across a many departments for this kind of statement to the management. It looks like a kind of corporate blindness.’