Schiphol facing staff shortage, concerned about summer peak

Employees at Schiphol fear chaos during the summer peak period if international travel continues to pick up, trade union FNV said. Numerous airport employees were laid off during the coronavirus crisis, leaving the remaining personnel fearful of potential incidents and security risks.

"As a result, there is not only a potential staff shortage, but a lot of experience has also disappeared. The new people are not yet sufficiently trained to properly supervise the coming crowds," said FNV Schiphol campaign manager Joost van Doesburg.

"Due to the rapidly increasing crowds, the shortage of (experienced) personnel and the poor working conditions, the number of incidents will increase and unsafe situations may arise," said Van Doesburg.

FNV Schiphol has asked the Inspectorate SZW to check working conditions at the airport and the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate to carry out checks into flight safety. FNV noted that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has recently also warned about the same issue.

The union sees the looming chaos as a result of imposing rules about schedule flexibility on the workforce at Schiphol. The latest trend is that some workers are no longer guaranteed an 8-hour schedule, but a maximum shift of 4 hours. As a result, people have to come to Schiphol for more days to work the same number of hours or take multiple jobs.

To draw attention to the concerns about the summer peak, employees will hold an action meeting at Schiphol on Wednesday. They will demand that there is a clear start-up plan for Schiphol to prevent chaos and that new employees are hired at the Schiphol companies rather than at employment agencies.

Additionally, they will call for the salaries to match the level of experience.