Lighten up
Unite is campaigning to get airlines
to introduce a reduced global standard of 23 kg maximum weight
limit for individual bags taken on planes. The campaign’s main aim
is to reduce back and other injuries suffered by thousands of
baggage handlers.
Unite is organising a lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 25 March
2009 to highlight the union's campaign to get airlines to introduce
a reduced global standard of 23kg maximum weight limit for
individual checked-in baggage. Unite is determined to get the
government to act and force the HSE to implement their own
guidelines. We believe the HSE are failing in their statutory duty
to protect the health of workers. We are also calling on government
to fund a public awareness campaign to encourage the travelling
public to 'lighten up'.
-
| New EDM 869 - Injuries to Airport Baggage Handlers
- Summary - EDM 869 was first put down on 24th February 2009 by
Karen Buck |
| That this House recognises that airport baggage handlers
frequently experience serious back and other injuries owing to the
excessive weight and repetitive handling of the baggage they
routinely handle; further recognises that on average each bag is
handled 10 times from check-in to collection, often in cramped
conditions with each worker handling an average of nine tonnes per
working shift; agrees with the Health and Safety Executive and the
International Air Transport Association that a reduction in the
maximum weight of checked-in luggage from 32 kilos to 23 kilos per
item would have a positive effect on reducing the risk to workers;
congratulates Unite the union on its Lighten Up campaign, which
aims to protect the health of baggage-handlers as well as reduce
the carbon footprint of aviation; and calls on the Health and
Safety Executive to regulate on this matter to ensure a uniform
standard across the UK aviation sector and Government to use its
influence wherever possible to ensure that this action is
taken. |
Click here to download the Early Day Motion 869
sponsored by Karen Buck MP
- Click here to download
a guide on how to lobby your MP
- Click here to download a model
letter to send to your MP
- Click here to download the
campaign breifing for MPs
- Click here to
download a lobby poster
Preventing injuries
Baggage handlers are five times
more likely to suffer muscular skeletal injuries than any other
worker in the UK. This is completely unacceptable and Unite is
determined to act to reduce the risks to members, forcing the
industry to lighten up, protecting members’ health and reducing the
cost and environmental impact of flying.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Aviation Industry Committee
has agreed to reduce the weight of checked-in baggage from 32 to 23
kilograms per item. The International Air Transport Association
(IATA) has also backed the call.
Unfortunately, the airlines have chosen to ignore their own
experts, the HSE and IATA continuing to allow dangerously heavy
bags and cash in on excess baggage charges from the public in the
process.
Baggage handlers work in extremely cramped conditions in an
environment similar to a modern day coal face. It is unacceptable
to expect workers to handle hundreds of suitcases a shift, many in
excess of the current 32 kilogram limit. Modern suitcases are
designed to be wheeled across floors not handled by workers and it
is the excessive weight and repetition of movement that is causing
injury.
Saving passenger’s
money
A further aim of Unite’s Lighten Up campaign is
to ensure travellers are not ripped off by excess baggage fees.
Currently, the way airlines charge for luggage is a mine field.
There is no standard weight over which airlines charge for excess
or amount changed per kilogram.
Airlines pay a £5 flat rate fee per bag handled by the baggage
services companies that operate in the UK’s airports, apart from BA
which still employs baggage handlers directly. Airlines are
continuing to allow dangerously heavy bags to maximize their
profits regardless of the injuries suffered by airline baggage
staff.
Unite is advising the public to save themselves money by
travelling lighter.
Helping the environment
A third and equally important message from Unite’s ‘Lighten Up’
campaign is the positive effect lighter luggage will have on global
warming. Lighter bags equal lighter planes resulting in less fuel
use and lower carbon admissions. If every passenger on a single
Boeing 747 travelled with 23 not 32kg it would be the same as
removing over 30 private cars from the road for a year.
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