What happens to your luggage?

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Baggage handler Michael Friis tells us about a typical day, and why we should all be packing less.

I start at 5am. The first flights that come in are from Fedex. They pay a lot of money to get a quick turnaround, so there are 13 or 14 of us unloading. On most flights there are just three baggage handlers. There is a lot of pressure. Often, while we’re working on one aircraft, there’s another one already on the ground. The planes don’t land exactly when they’re scheduled. On average we deal with one flight an hour, sometimes more. In low season it’s not as busy, but over the summer there are many more passengers. The airlines tell us how quickly they want the turnaround. For example, Easyjet asks us to do the work in 25 minutes, which is not long.

In high season, during a normal working day, a baggage handler is lifting 10 tonnes. It’s not surprising that many of my colleagues have been injured through work. It happens because of heavy suitcases and quick turnarounds. Our working conditions are very
uncomfortable – the hold compartments are very small, and many handlers spend the whole day working on their knees. I injured my shoulder in 2004. I had to be off for a year, and I’m only now returning to full duties. I was on full salary while I was off, but I’ve been here for 20 years and work as a safety representative for the union (3F). A newer staff member might have more problems if he was injured (baggage handlers are almost always men).

The amount of heavy luggage depends on the company and destination. Some companies, such as Ryanair, make passengers pay for a second piece of baggage, so people pack lots into one big suitcase. This is very unhelpful for us – we’d much prefer for people to pack two smaller bags. But we understand that it’s difficult when it costs more. Some destinations are particularly bad for heavy luggage. For some reason, flights leaving to the Middle East, Pakistan and India often have a lot of baggage. Many American tourists come into Copenhagen, and they also pack very heavy luggage. It’s not unknown for a single suitcase to weighs 40 or 45 kilos (more than six stone). Most injuries happen on the shoulders, back and knees. There are more and more injuries every year. This is why the union has two staff members working especially on this issue. They deal with the paperwork, and contact the labour inspectors. Last year, the local branch won £3million compensation from insurance.

Our employer is good, but could always be better. We’d like them to buy improved equipment, and to hire more people. We’d also like the company to tell airlines they have to enforce a maximum weight.

We’re spoken to travellers, and they are understanding when we explain the issues. We’d ask travellers to think about what they can buy at their destination, and not feel they have to take everything with them.

Many Danish travellers take Danish food away with them, for example. One well-known industrial doctor in Denmark has said this kind of work should be banned. Our focus is to create a working environment that is as safe as possible. The union has also been lobbying at the European level: our goal is to create a maximum weight for luggage.

Many colleagues have suffered serious injuries. One 34-year-old baggage handler hurt his lower back, and will probably never work again. Baggage handling is a dangerous job. We want air passengers to enjoy their travels – but we’d really
like them to pack less.

Michael Friis is a baggage handler for Danish company Novia and a safety rep for Danish union 3F. Additional information from Lars Brogaard, full-time officer, 3F.

Cabin crew are also at risk from heavy bags

“Most of our physical movement is during boarding, loading passengers’ bags inside overhead lockers. There are have not been any studies on the health and safety consequences of our work during boarding. But anecdotally, we know that cabin crew are affected by this work. We also suffer back injuries when we have to push heavy
carts during the flight. We’d like to see specific rules on carry-on baggage for passengers, so we could avoid pain and back injuries.”

Elisabetta Chicca, FILT-CGIL, Italy

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Unions and the Pack Less Campaign | What went wrong

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