Airport workers not allowed on Schiphol social council; Too one-sided, municipality says
The municipality of Haarlemmermeer wants to change the composition of the Maatschappelijke Raad Schiphol (MRS), the social council meant to represent locals’ interests with the government. The council excludes airport workers from being members, while over 30 percent of locals work at the airport. That makes the MRS too one-sided, alderman Marja Ruigrok said in a letter to Minister Barry Madlener of Infrstructure, De Telegraaf reports.
The MRS has been active for about 18 months and is about to be legally anchored. It can give the government solicited and unsolicited advice regarding the airport, and the responsible Minister is obliged to respond to it. The articles of the association behind the MRS exclude employees from the aviation sector from sitting on the council. According to the association, this would be a conflict of interest. The MRS mostly advocates for shrinking Schiphol to reduce noise pollution.
Sander Blankestein, a VVD member on the Haarlemmermeer municipal council, points out that over a third of Haarlemmermeer residents earn their living at or around the airport. “Schiphol makes us one of the strongest economic municipalities in the Netherlands. But these people are not allowed to have a seat on the MRS. This means that some of these residents are not being heard. This has to change, it is time for the silent majority to be better heard in the debate around Schiphol.” According to Blankestein, “the legal advisory body around Schiphol has been hijacked by a small group of opponents.”
Last week, the municipal council adopted a motion that the MRS become a “real social council” that includes all of the municipality’s residents. Alderman Ruigrok wrote to Minister Madlener. “We do not see the interests of the residents of Haarlemmermeer sufficiently represented by the MRS. Excluding residents undermines the objective to the MRS,” the alderman wrote, asking the Minister to grant aviation employees access.
The MRS told the Telegraaf that local residents who work for the airport are excluded to avoid conflicts of interest. “The aim of the MRS is the quality of the living environment, the aim is not to safeguard the interest of employees, employers, the sector, municipalities, or provinces,” MRS secretary Inge Kok said. Aviation employees can join the trade union or works council, she said. “Local residents with ties to the aviation sector can make their opinions heard at the residents’ organizations.”
