Baggage handlers to lobby parliament over 23kg maximum bag weight
4th February 2009
Date: Wednesday, 25th March
Time: 12.30pm
Venue: Parliament Square, opposite House of Commons,
Westminster
Unite members from airports all over the UK will be lobbying
their MPs and inviting them to take part in a ‘baggage challenge’
where MPs will be invited to lift the heavy bags baggage handlers
are expected to lift on a daily basis.
Unite, the UK’s largest union, is calling on the government to
put pressure on the Health and Safety Executive to introduce
regulation that will prevent injuries. Two years ago the Health and
Safety Executive aviation Industry group 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.
However, airlines have refused to implement the new weight limit
saying they will only comply if there is an industry-wide
approach.
That is why 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 union's Lighten Up campaign's
main aim is to reduce back and other injuries suffered by thousands
of baggage handlers.
Unite’s ‘Lighten Up’ campaign also highlights the positive
effect lighter luggage will have on global warming. Lighter bags
equal lighter planes resulting in less fuel use and lower carbon
admissions. Unite will also be asking government to fund a public
awareness campaign to encourage the travelling public to travel
lighter.
ENDS
For more information contact Liane Groves 07793 661 657 in the
Unite press office
Notes to editors:
Baggage handlers will be descending on parliament to demand
government take action to force airlines to reduce the weight of
checked-in bags from 32 to 23kg to reduce the unacceptably high
levels of muscular skeletal injuries in the civil aviation
industry.
- Baggage handlers are five times more like to suffer muscular
skeletal injury than any other worker in the UK.
- Baggage handlers lift around 9 tonnes of luggage per
shift.
- If every passenger on a Boeing 747 travelled with 23 not 32kg
it would be the same as removing around 30 private cars from the
road for a year.
For more information look at www.unitetheunion.org/lightenup
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