Dutch airline KLM will remove ten European flights on Monday (September 2nd) following a two-hour strike by ground staff to demand a pay rise, a spokesman said on Sunday (September 1st).
The social movement, scheduled to begin at 8 am, was decided after the failure of negotiations between the company and the trade union confederation FNV. "KLM has decided preemptively to cancel ten European flights because of the strike," said KLM spokeswoman Manel Vrijenhoek. "We are still looking at what flights will be involved," she added.
Air France, Delta and Transavia notably affected
According to her, Air France, Delta and other companies of the SkyTeam alliance to which KLM belongs, as well as Transavia, the low cost subsidiary of Air France, should also be affected by the strike.
The FNV said on Saturday (August 31st) that it was demanding a 4% salary increase for the 15,000 ground staff, when KLM's last bid was 2%. "It's not right, so we're calling for a stoppage of work," said Joost van Doesburg, a trade union leader. "If KLM remains on its position after the strike, we do not exclude new shares," he added in a statement.
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In May, a strike by transport workers led to the cancellation of dozens of flights at Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, one of Europe's busiest hubs. More than 41 million passengers passed through this airport in the first six months of the year, according to the latest figures provided by the airport.