KLM ground crew to strike on Saturday over airline's refusal to increase wages

KLM’s ground crew will strike for 24 hours on Saturday, the trade union FNV announced. According to FNV, ground employees are “furious” about the airline refusing to increase their wages while it rewards pilots handsomely. KLM will try to prevent the strike in court.

The strike will start at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday and end at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday. KLM intends to fight the strike in court, a spokesperson told NOS, calling the action harmful to the company, “especially in the difficult financial position in which KLM finds itself.”

The airline expects that the strike, if it happens, will result in canceled flights. KLM ground staff includes employees who handle the bags, tow the aircraft, or speak to passengers in the departure halls. Without the ground crew, there are no flights, the trade unions previously pointed out to the airline.

On Monday evening, KLM still sent a letter to FNV and CNV, asking them not to go on strike. “There is no point in walking away,” the airline said about the long-running collective bargaining agreement talks.

But FNV negotiator John van Dorland told NOS that the union will only return to the negotiating table if KLM at least compensates employees for inflation in their wages. “We want to maintain purchasing power. KLM rewards pilots generously. It is incomprehensible that this does not happen with people on the ground.” FNV also wants KLM to better compensate people who do physically taxing work.

CNV previously also pointed out the mismatch in treatment between the ground crew and the pilots at KLM. The trade union called it “unacceptable” that KLM wants to freeze ground crew’s salaries while pilots received 29 million euros in returns in January, and KLM directors awarded themselves an increase in variable remuneration of over 32 percent last year. “We demand that this inequality be rectified,” the trade union previously said.