Dutch court bans KLM strike until after summer holidays

A Dutch court on Thursday barred KLM airline ground staff from going on strike until early September in a bid to spare travellers fresh summer travel misery.

"According to the judge, there is a lot of traffic at Schiphol (airport) with the summer holidays," the court in Haarlem said in a statement.

Therefore the Dutch "Trade Union Federation (FNV) cannot organise any work stoppage until September 4 inclusive."

KLM went to court after the FNV gave notice of pending strike action by some of the airline's 14,500 ground handlers, who are demanding a wage rise.

But the court ruled that "combined with a current terror threat at the airport, it believes restrictions on the right to collective action are urgently needed."

Schiphol airport, just outside Amsterdam, is one of Europe's busiest travel hubs. A security alert has been in place since late July following an unspecified threat.

KLM said it was satisfied with the court's ruling.

In another move however, KLM pilots have warned the airline they will go to court if a cut in pensions is not taken off the negotiating table by Friday.

Although strikes in The Netherlands are rare, Thursday's ruling came as pilots from the British budget airline easyJet held another in a series of lightening actions at Schiphol.

The five-hour early morning stoppage by the easyJet pilots was the third since early June.

The pilots are calling for no loss of pay during sick leave, more rest between flights and better pensions, their union the VNV said.

The union said it was still ready to negotiate with easyJet "but management did not leave us with much choice," said VNV president Steven Verhagen.

And he warned more strikes would follow.

EasyJet said it had to cancel some flights on Thursday out of Amsterdam, adding it was disappointed by the action as "our latest offer represents a significant improvement compared to earlier proposals."