KLM has made wage proposals to ground staff, after the CNV and FNV unions said strike action would commence at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on July 9, unless their demands were met.
Ground staff are planning to strike for eight hours during what is expected to be a busy travel day at the Dutch-hub, as parts of the Netherlands begin the summer holiday period.
Ground staff at the airline's Amsterdam hub planning to strike include check-in agents, passenger assistance team members, tow truck drivers, and baggage handlers, not limited to just ramp crew.
The airline stated that it has presented all unions with a “concrete” wage proposal: a one-time payment of €1,000 ($1,180) in 2025 along with a structural salary increase of up to 2.5% by July 2026, depending on the company’s financial performance this year.
This means that if KLM achieves an operating margin of at least 5.5% for the 2025 fiscal year, all employees will receive the full 2.5% raise. If the result is lower, the increase will be reduced accordingly but will be at least 0.5%.
“The ground workers are very angry because after all these months they still have no collective labour agreement and no wage increase,” said CNV negotiator Souleiman Amallah. “In the meantime, millions are going to the management and to the pilots. The ground staff feel that they are the ones who are paying the price for the cuts that KLM wants to make.”
This follows a court ruling made last week which ruled that KLM ground staff were not permitted to conduct a planned 24-hour strike on June 28, 2025. The judge stated a 24-hour strike is disproportionate and therefore banned the action from taking place.
KLM said there is now a sufficient basis for reaching an agreement with all unions, with collective labour agreement negotiations planned to resume on July 10.