The Labor Inspectorate has summoned baggage handlers at Schiphol to make the work easier for their staff. If they fail to do so, they must pay a penalty that can amount to tens of thousands of euros per month.
Baggage handlers at Schiphol have long been doing too little to reduce the physical burden of lugging suitcases, the regulator concludes after a number of checks. Although improvements have been made after the most recent warning from the Labor Inspectorate, they are said to be still insufficient.
That is why the Labor Inspectorate has definitively imposed an order subject to periodic penalty payments on six handling companies at the largest airport in the Netherlands. If they do not improve, they receive a monetary penalty that varies per handler. The highest penalty is 65,000 euros per month.
Additional lifting aids
The Labor Inspectorate has found that the companies have taken too few measures to make the work easier for suitcase porters, for example by deploying more lifting aids or by sufficiently alternating different tasks. Schiphol recently purchased extra lifting aids, but that did not yet result in sufficient improvement.
Recent inspections by the Labor Inspectorate show that baggage handlers do not yet use the available resources at all workplaces or that there is insufficient rotation.
A year ago, Nieuwsuur and NOS reported that baggage companies at Schiphol had had their staff do too heavy work for years. At the time, the Labor Inspectorate acknowledged that it had not been inspected at the airport for years. Since then, workplace visits by baggage handlers have increased.
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