Amstelveen,
28
July
2016
|
08:55
Europe/Amsterdam

KLM condemns intended FNV industrial action

Summary

At 16:00 hours this afternoon, the FNV trade union federation informed KLM about its intended industrial action. KLM previously indicated that it would not be able to concede to FNV’s demands set in the form of an ultimatum. The four other ground unions currently engaged in consultations about a new collective labour agreement, will be putting the contents of the KLM proposal before their members for consideration.

FNV has chosen to take another route.

KLM condemns the intended industrial action announced by the FNV. The FNV industrial action includes a call to its members to refrain from loading cargo on Thursday morning and to hand out “FNV information” to KLM passengers at the check-in counters.

The Cargo market is under particularly high pressure at present. For this reason, KLM has been compelled to make tough decisions to reduce the size of its full-freighter fleet and to adjust the organisation accordingly. A difficult period, especially for the employees affected.

This call to action by the FNV will be bad for KLM’s cargo customers and will cost unnecessary money. This could have a negative impact on employment opportunities and will certainly not be in the interests of the workforce. Engaging in industrial action of this nature at this point in time is irresponsible and will damage KLM unnecessarily. The road forward is paved with dialogue, not industrial action.

KLM will deploy every possible resource in order to limit all forms of inconvenience for its customers.

In its notification to KLM, the FNV refers to its industrial action as being people friendly. I don’t believe it to be any such thing. Our passengers have no need for the FNV’s national promotional flyers and our cargo customers justifiably want their cargo to be transported as scheduled. The intended FNV industrial action is shameful for the thousands of KLM employees who are working extremely hard every day to restore the company to good health and to be able to invest in the future. The KLM mentality I’m familiar with is one of rolling up our sleeves together to get this company through a difficult period successfully
Pieter Elbers - KLM President & CEO