The strike action started on Saturday morning by Aviapartner baggage handlers at Brussels Airport is having a moderate impact on airport operations. According to the ACV-Transcom union, the action disrupted 46 flights, most of which were planned by tour operator Tui.
About 50 workers at baggage handler Aviapartner walked out at 06:30 on Saturday to protest what they say is too high a workload, as well as a complicated point-based driving licence applied to workers at Brussels Airport.
Aviapartner handles baggage for more than 40% of flights at Brussels Airport. The company works with Tui, KLM, TAP, Iberia and British Airways, among others. The strike caused delays and some flights took off without baggage, airport spokeswoman Nathalie Pierard said.
The impact on tour operator Tui appears to be moderate, however. “We have a licence to handle the loading of luggage ourselves on board aircraft,” assured its spokesman, Piet Demeyere. “As this was a spontaneous action, we could not anticipate and the first flight to Malaga left without luggage. But the luggage left in Brussels will be carried on the next flights scheduled for this Saturday."
Aviapartner workers handling baggage from Turkish Airlines plane. BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND
Talks are underway between Aviapartner management and the unions. “The workers have been able to air their grievances,” said trade unionist Björn Vanden Eynde (ACV-Transcom), who said the action was continuing. Discussions are also planned with Brussels Airport Company (BAC).
'Stunned' managament
The management of baggage handler Aviapartner said it was "completely stunned" by the work stoppage: "We are stunned: a strike during the quietest time of the year," reacted the company's CEO Philip De Coninck.
For the CEO, the argument of overwork is "nonsense". De Coninck insisted that work schedules for this period are "more than sufficient and in line with current standards, even if it is true that our sector is not immune to upheavals... We have also continued to recruit over the winter."
The management also says it has not perceived any signs of higher pressure at work in recent weeks. A works council was held last Tuesday, during which "no issues relating to the volume of work were put on the agenda", Philip De Coninck stated.
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Trade unions and management are currently negotiating a new collective labour agreement. New discussions are scheduled for Wednesday. They will focus on bonuses and the composition of the teams. "Couldn't they have waited until then?" asks the CEO, who had planned to meet the unions at around 10:00.
Aviapartner "strongly condemns" the spontaneous action, which "takes hundreds of passengers hostage who were about to leave for a well-deserved holiday on this first day of the Carnival holiday", Philip De Coninck adds.
