Bas Timmer becomes a 2020 Time Magazine Next Generation Leader

DECEMBER 2020 | 7

Dutch designer Bas Timmer becomes a 2020 Time Magazine Next Generation Leader

When Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant asked young Dutch designer Bas Timmer (30) to describe what it felt like to become one of Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders of 2020, his response was as simple as it was typically down-to-earth Dutch: “Madness.” Timmer is the designer of the Sheltersuit, which ‘provides immediate shelter to the homeless, while using upcycled material and providing jobs’. His combination of carrying bag, sleeping bag and winter coat for homeless people and refugees managed to captivate the American weekly, which included him in its biannual selection of rising stars in politics, technology, culture, science, sports and business. Always on the lookout for the next generation inspirational and forward-thinking innovative pioneers who are ‘breaking new ground, crossing borders and creating change,’ Time selected Timmer for being ‘an advocate for the homeless.’

Everyone deserves dignity The idea was born when the homeless father of friend of Timmer died of hypothermia. “I felt guilty,” Timmer told Time. “I had the opportunity to help, and I did nothing.” So, Timmer set out to design something that would meet the requirements of a harsh life on the streets: waterproof, warm and portable, as well as good for sleeping. Part tent and part parka, the Sheltersuit is made up of a detachable sleeping bag that can be zipped off and easily stored during the day. As Time relates: “He presented his mashup to a local homeless man, who was enchanted.” Time met Timmer in South Africa, when he presented a simple variant of the suit at a global design event This year, the skies above the Netherlands are bluer and brighter than ever before. But not for the Dutch national airline. Last year KLM, the oldest operating airline in the world, celebrated its centennial and had a profit of 26.4 million euros. With 66% less passengers this year due to Covid-19, profit hovers – until now – at 9 million euros. For its 30,000 employees, this will ultimately equate into job loss. Already 5,000 have lost their jobs, but the carnage is not over yet. In June, the national airline asked the government for a support package of one billion euros with an additional 2.4 billion in bank loans guaranteed by the Dutch state. This massive package of 3.4 billion euros has received a lot of criticism from other sectors of the economy. One of the conditions the government demands for the bailout package is that the airline scales back 15% of its expenses, including the salaries of pilots, cabin crew and ground staff. Earlier this year, there was a public outcry about the use of government money to support the national airline, after the annual salary of its CEO, Pieter Elbers, was made public: €525,000 plus a bonus of 342,000. Since then, Elbers has taken a 20% pay-cut for this year and turned down his 2019 and 2020 bonusses. The cutbacks in salaries will especially target those that earn more than the in Cape Town, the Shelterbag: a mattress that can be rolled out into a waterproof cover, or can be used as a ‘tent’ for less cold winters. “We found a studio in Cape Town, and producers for the bag, and authorities for homeless people who wanted to hand out the bags. We had everything except money,” Timmer told De Volkskrant.

While his Sheltersuits were transported to refugees on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Samos and to homeless people in Sydney, Timmer moved his focus to the US. Based on the belief that ‘everyone deserves warmth, protection and dignity,’ Timmer’s Sheltersuit Foundation, currently based average income (‘model income’) of €36,000 a year; these employees were asked to take a pay-cut or freeze salaries until 2025. Since this summer, the eight unions that represent that various sectors (pilots, cabin crew, ground staff) of KLM employees have been up in arms, refusing to take such far-reaching salary cuts or reduction in benefits, as reported in the previous Holland Times. In late October, during a joint general meeting of unions and KLM’s board of directors, tension rose to an all-time high when Elbers had to spell out to the unions what was at stake. If KLM refused the 15% cutbacks, then the state was going pull the plug on the airline. When the 31 October deadline loomed, unions tried to make compromises until in the Netherlands, New York and South Africa, has by now distributed 12,500 Sheltersuits to homeless people in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and the US, as well as to refugees in Greece, adapting his designs to local conditions. In doing so, he has used 21.000 kilos of upcycled materials from the textile industry’s surplus of fabrics, and created 112 jobs so far.

Breaking boundaries Time has been making its selections of Next Generation Leaders, or NGLs, since it launched its project in partnership with Rolex in 2014. As part of its ongoing search midnight, offering a pay reduction and wage freeze for pilots until March 2022 and for ground staff and cabin crew until December 2022. Elbers has reassured the government that the wage reduction will apply for the full term of the loans of six years. To satisfy employee demands, KLM’s legal advisors included a new clause to satisfy at least five of the eight unions. The FNV union, the largest union in the Netherlands with more than a million members, had threatened not to sign the agreement, because ground staff are getting the shorter end of the stick in comparison to pilots. Willem Schmid, spokesmen for the Association of Dutch Airline Pilots (VNV) and the 3000 for the ‘leaders of tomorrow,’ it aims to introduce young people from around the world who have not just succeeded in their fields, but have also ‘persuaded others to share their vision.’ Throughout the years, its selection of rising stars has ‘excelled and surprised’ with ideas in politics, business, culture, science and sports. The NGLs are all chosen for being able to lead by example and inspiring others to have the courage to follow their convictions.

Timmer joins an impressive list of previous honourees that have ‘gone on to lead nations, receive Oscar nominations and become Olympic stars.’ Some have excelled in prosthetics entrepreneurialism or marine bio-geochemistry, or have been chosen as Latin America’s youngest lawmaker at only 20 years old. The programme has already put the spotlight on projects to help indigenous people of Canada, solve some of the oldest problems in surgery, transform journalism in Turkey, and break cycles of crime in Mexico. Thanks to Timmer, the issue of homelessness, widely regarded as of the most complex issues that humans can face, has now also been highlighted. Said Time Magazine’s deputy international editor Naina Bajekal about the 2020 selection: “In a year full of crises, this group offers a bright window into the future. They are using their voices and platforms to build movements, break boundaries and push for change.”

Hard negotiations for KLM’s government support deal

Written by Femke van Iperen KLM pilots he represents, were heavily criticized for refusing not to accept the wage reduction for the full period, thus endangering the airline. With some pilots earning as much as €250,000 a year, the pilots were portrayed in the Dutch media as “greedy” and “bankers of the air”, referring to the national government bailout of bankers with exorbitant salaries and bonuses during the credit crisis of 2008.

With 31 October as the government’s deadline for KLM’s pay reduction, on 2 November the FNV and VNV gave in, with the union of pilots stipulating that the term was to run for a maximum of six years. Nevertheless, the airline played hard to get, because it also understood its role in the national economy, of which air traffic is an important aspect. KLM and Schiphol Airport are not only a crucial travel hub for 80 million passengers annually, but also play a key role in Dutch international trade. More than 1.57 million tons of cargo are transported from Schiphol each year. For the Netherlands, the 17th largest economy in the world, Schiphol accounts for between 2-5% of Dutch GNP. For the Netherlands, there is more at stake than just losing its national airline.