Photo/Illutration Masaki Arashiro, chair of a labor union at Swissport Japan, in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, where the company is based (Koji Nishimura)

IZUMISANO, Osaka Prefecture--A labor union at a major airport ground service provider has threatened to break a key labor-management agreement as it demands fewer flights be serviced to rein in ballooning overtime work.

If the agreement governing overtime and holiday work is scrapped, Swissport Japan employees will not be able to work after their designated hours, which could affect flight operations.

“We do not have the capacity to accept the current number of flights,” Masaki Arashiro, chair of the labor union, told The Asahi Shimbun in a recent interview. “We need to reduce the number of flights we handle.”

Swissport Japan, one of the four largest industry players, provides airport ground services and air cargo handling at six airports, including Narita International Airport, Haneda Airport and Kansai International Airport.

The company said on Nov. 16 it had been notified that the labor union would break the agreement at the end of November unless working conditions are improved.

Arashiro said workloads have sharply increased since October of last year as the number of international flights rebounded following the COVID-19 pandemic, and workers have been experiencing a manpower shortage.

He said employees working beyond the monthly overtime limit of 45 hours under the labor law has become the norm.

“Some union members are putting in more than 100 hours of overtime a month,” he said.

His union organizes about 90 percent of the company’s 1,400 or so regular employees.

Swissport, which is 51 percent owned by Switzerland-based Swissport International and 49 percent owned by trading house Marubeni Corp., has said it hopes to maintain the labor-management agreement by improving the situation.

Under the Labor Standards Law, the general rule is to work eight hours a day and 40 hours a week, and a labor-management agreement based on Article 36 must be concluded if these statutory maximum hours are exceeded.

Facing an industry-wide labor shortage and high turnover, airport ground services companies have said they will increase recruitment and develop human resources.

Swissport has increased the number of employees by more than 50 percent from the approximately 1,000 as of December.

But Arashiro said training new employees has not kept pace with the workload and that much of the work has therefore been concentrated on employees with the necessary qualifications and experience.

“Exhausted veteran employees are quitting one after another,” he said.

Arashiro acknowledged there are concerns among union members about causing inconveniences to customers, such as forcing airlines to cancel flights.

Still, he emphasized that cutting back on the workload is a priority.

“It will be too late if someone dies from overwork or gets involved in a serious accident because of it,” he said.

He also said improving the working environment will help the company secure workers.

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