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'Please pack less' say baggage handlers

Published: 30/11/2009 - Filed under: News »

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Next time you struggle to lift your suitcase on to the bathroom scales, spare a thought for airport baggage handlers.

According to the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), luggage handlers are more likely to suffer injury as the use of mechanical aids and lifting positions is not always possible in cramped conditions such as aircraft holds.

To get this message across, ETF has launched a joint campaign with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) directly targeting passengers and calling on governments and airlines to impose new “realistic” weight limits.

Should the campaign be successful, passengers could one day find themselves limited to 15kg of luggage, easing the strain on baggage handlers, check-in staff and cabin crew.

The ‘Stop Injuries! Pack less’ campaign will also attempt to raise public awareness of airport working conditions with 100,000 leaflets distributed across 35 airports throughout Europe.

The leaflet (pictured below) claims that handlers often have to load luggage “while working on their knees” due to cramped working conditions.

According to the ITF and ETF, airline luggage is exempt from health and safety regulations which would normally protect the wellbeing of both airport workers and cabin crew.

“Every day hugely heavy loads that would be rejected in just about any other workplace are being handled by check-in staff and baggage handlers,” said Enrique Carmona, president of the ETF’s ground staff committee.

“The result is too often injuries that can last a lifetime. That’s why we are asking travellers to think of the people who help them on their way.”

The two federations are campaigning for a maximum weight limit of 23kg with immediate effect, followed by a phased reduction to 15kg. Hand luggage would also be limited to 6kg per bag.

ETF and ITF said lighter bags would avoid excess baggage fees, improve safety for airport workers and help the environment with lighter aircraft equaling lower fuel consumption.

For more information visit packless.org, etf-europe.org, itfglobal.org.

Report by Andrew Gough

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COMMENTS » 

theworldtraveller - 30/11/2009 16:09

These guys need to get into the real world. With a suitcase weight at 4kg-5kg, it does not allow you to take much on holiday, especially for a 2 week trip. I wonder if sometimes people think about the customers needs, and the person that is indirectly paying their salary.

23kg is a fair weight though. To reduce to 15kg you will need to take 2 bags and airlines are not going to want people to take 2 bags from a space, loading time and weight point of view.

I think hand-luggage should be unlimited weight like BA (stipulation being you must be able to lift it to the overhead lockers), but rigorously enforced for the dimensions (a minefield with every airline allowing different sizes - standardisation please all you airlines!). I hate being last on the aircraft with nowhere to put my bag.

ScottWilson - 01/12/2009 10:58

Life's tough for people with jobs, but if they wanted a better job maybe they should retrain or do something else. There is hardly a lack of labour willing to undertake low skilled work.

Given how some bags are handled by staff, including the regular "put the priority bags on the carousel last" trick, no doubt undertaken by more militantly Marxist workers, I have little sympathy.

If I can carry my bag to a taxi and drag it to a check in desk, and lift it up and off, then they can put it on the plane. Most passengers down the back have a 23kg limit anyway, and only a handful get a 32kg limit (and damned well pay for it).

Anything less and it means more cases, no doubt meaning more workers and more union members. Besides for all containerised baggage there isn't an issue, the main issue is packing the holds of non-containerised aircraft like 737s.

Why should they be listened to on hand luggage? When have any one of them done a damned thing with my hand luggage?

CRAIGADAMS - 01/12/2009 11:13

There is a conflict between the maximum weight of individual bags and airlines' charging policies for checked bags. As airlines move to reduce the number of bags a passenger can check-in without additional charges, passengers will naturally aim to pack a single bag right up to the 23kg allowance for longer duration trips. The new campaign for a 15kg maximum per bag may result in passengers having to check in two bags within this weight and incur additional baggage charges. Restrictions on liquids in carry on bags also force passengers to use their check in bags for toiletries, contact lens fluids etc. Airlines and airports need to discuss and agree baggage options that allow their passengers to travel with sufficient items necessary for their trip, without punitive baggage charges, and which protect baggage handlers from risk of injury in handling excessively heavy individual bags.

MarcusUK - 01/12/2009 17:24

Every other airport in the world manages, every other ground handling crew manage up to 32kg. I am sure if they wish to lift half the max weight then there are over 2 Million others in the queue as unemployed who would take their roles, & they can swap over. It is entirely impractical for people taking long haul trips to carry several suitcases, contrary to the bag policy of Airlines, & additional costs we would pay We already pay enought for poor Airport services within the EU, it has become a pure cash cow. £81 charges for a KLM flight of £89 including fare. they get enough, Do the job or find someone else who will! This is another lazy & selfish statement from a an EU Organisation. The beaurocrats in these Organisations are the most hypocritical, & never adhere or provide an example themselves

RichardEnglish - 03/12/2009 12:28

If I, at my advanced years, can lift my full suitcase, then those whose job it is to lift suitcases should have no problem.

As someone else wrote - they need to get into the real world.

A typical piece of union nonsense (albeit a European union) - but nevertheless only to be expected with a Labour government, I suppose. Hopefully this kind of nonsense will disappear (at least in the UK) after the next election and its resultant banishment of Labour into the mists of ineffective opposition for a couple of decades.

PPSKrisflyer - 03/12/2009 12:32

These guys need to get real. They are employed to handle luggage, it is not without risks but that needs to be managed by their employers. Imposing more restrictions on passengers just is not the way forward. We are already bled of cash at every turn in the process of air travel anyway. Enough is enough.

On business travel I often need the full 30kg allowence and I avoid airlines that have lower limits.

BuddyCasino - 03/12/2009 14:30

Whilst I understand that it is a hard job these guys are having, especially sitting in the belly of a 757-300 and unloading manually, they need to get back to the real world. Carry on is limited, the stuff we can put into it is limited, number of bags to be checked in is limited or extremely expensive, the weight is already limited and had been decreasing (I remember being able to load 32kg into a suitcase when travelling to the US), but still we need or stuff, especially when gong on holidays, etc. And as long as I can carry it and lift it onto the conveyor belt at check in, having to climb stairs with it, etc. plus carrying my carry on as well, I think these guys (who are mch younger than me) will be able to do so, too. The unions should rather invest the time and energy into inventing lading tools so these workers get support in doing their job........

LuganoPirate - 03/12/2009 23:22

I remember when I still lived in London and we were told our refuse collectors would not pick up garden waste or other "heavy matter" due to health and safety concerns. One day I had 4 bins of garden waste and 3 bins of builders rubble from demolishing a wall. A crisp tenner discreetly handed over ensured the whole lot was taken away without any fuss and no broken bin mens' backs!!! I smell some more fleecing of us passengers coming up. What think you all?

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