Security staff at Schiphol will begin short work stoppages and deliberately slow-downs in the coming days, after the airport and its three security firms missed a union deadline to ease a workload the unions say has become unmanageable. Travellers could face longer queues as a result.
Unions FNV and CNV announced the action on Wednesday, after an ultimatum to Schiphol and the firms Securitas, I-SEC and Trigion expired at midday. The stoppages will be flagged only a few hours in advance, and the unions have not ruled out longer strikes if nothing changes.
“Nobody wants industrial action at Schiphol,” said CNV negotiator André Quist. “But if employers take no concrete step against the enormous workload even after a crystal-clear ultimatum, they leave our members no choice.”
The dispute dates back to a shake-up in the spring, when Schiphol cut the number of firms running hand-baggage checks from five to three. The switch to new employers affected most of the airport’s roughly 5,000 security guards, whose pay was preserved but whose rosters, shift times, breaks and leave all changed.
Since then, the unions say, workloads have risen and sickness absence has climbed, leaving fewer guards to carry the same load – a downward spiral they warn is getting worse.
In July the unions made eight demands, including longer breaks, two consecutive days off after five worked, a heat protocol for the terminals, and at least two women on every security lane so female passengers can be searched. A lane should close, they say, if only one woman is available.
Schiphol said it regretted the action and took the guards’ concerns seriously, adding that it and the three firms were already working on improvements to five of the eight demands. It said it would do all it could to limit the impact on travellers.
A separate walkout by around 350 cleaners at the airport also happened on Wednesday for two hours around midday in a dispute over reduced sick pay in the national cleaning agreement, which FNV wants Schiphol, as a major client, to help resist.
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