As the demand for air travel that decreased due to the new coronavirus returns, the labor union of Swissport Japan, which is responsible for guiding aircraft on the ground and accepting them at check-in counters, has notified the company that it will not work any overtime from next month, saying that the long working hours will not improve because the recruitment of human resources has not caught up with the recovery in demand.
The company commented that it "would like to continue consultation with the union to improve and avoid it."
The notification was made by the labor union of Swissport Japan in Izumisano City, Osaka, and 1400% of the approximately 9,4 employees, excluding managers, are members.
Swissport Japan is one of the four major ground handling companies in Japan, and is responsible for guiding aircraft on the ground, loading and unloading luggage, and accepting at check-in counters at six airports, including Haneda and Narita, mainly for flights of foreign airlines.
According to the labor union, although the number of employees is increasing with the recovery of demand for air travel that decreased due to the new coronavirus, about 1% of the employees, excluding managers, are new employees with less than one year, so the work is concentrated on some mid-level employees, and long working hours have become the norm.
For this reason, the labor union has been requesting the company, but there has been no improvement, and on the 6th, the labor union notified the company that it has canceled the agreement on overtime work and will not work overtime at all from next month.
Masaki Shinshiro, the head of the labor union, said, "The work continues to increase, and some employees have continued to work beyond the death line from overwork for more than several months, and we have come to a difficult conclusion."
In addition, President Kazunari Yoshida commented, "I am sorry that this situation has come to a point, and I would like to continue discussions with the union to improve it and avoid it somehow."
Regarding ground handling, the industry as a whole has not been able to keep up with the securing of human resources, and the person in charge of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism wants to quickly grasp the situation due to concerns about the impact on operations.