Dutch court bans strike by KLM ground staff

A Dutch court Wednesday ruled that ground staff working for the KLM airline were barred from going on strike just hours before they were due to down tools at Amsterdam airport.

The court, in the Dutch town of Haarlem, said it needed more time to examine the issue, adding it would hand down a decision on August 11. Until then all strikes and work stoppages were barred.

KLM welcomed the ruling saying in a statement it was "satisfied". It had calculated that only 150 to 250 out of some 14,500 ground staff would take part in the strike which had been due to start at 7:30 pm (1730 GMT).

But it had voiced concerns that any such industrial action could "potentially impact thousands of passengers resulting in delays, missed connections and/or baggage remaining behind."

And it estimated the airline faced potential losses of up to 4 million euros ($4.47 million).

"This is disproportionate to the small group of FNV supporters who are bringing matters to a head," the KLM-Air France company said in its statement.

During the planned 90-minute strike, handlers belonging to the FNV trade union had warned no luggage would be loaded or unloaded from planes and no aircraft would be guided to the takeoff runway.

FNV is calling for a wage increase, and on Tuesday refused a management invitation to rejoin discussions on a collective labour agreement, even though four other unions have resumed negotiations.

"We want to sit across the negotiating table from KLM, but only if it is useful or if KLM indicates it is ready to move," said Zakaria Boufangacha, from the union's aviation branch.

Schiphol airport in Amsterdam is one of Europe's busiest travel hubs, and was hit by a pilots' strike on Monday against British carrier easyJet which led to several cancellations.

Over the weekend and on Tuesday, KLM also revealed that some 14,000 suitcases and bags had been left behind when Schiphol's baggage system broke down.

KLM spokeswoman Manel Vrijenhoek told AFP the airline was working to dispatch the luggage as quickly as possible to its owners.