BMW Group employs nearly 125,000 people worldwide across manufacturing operations on six continents. In Rosslyn the assembly plant has a total of roughly 2,800 staff, of which ~16% are females. Approximately two thirds of the staff are direct employees, while approximately one third of the staff are employed on limited/temporary contracts.
BMW Group’s assembly of vehicles are highly specialized operations that require significant training. The use of temporary workers is required for strategic flexibility. Their hourly and annual remuneration is exactly the same as their permanent counterparts and so is their standard of training, to fulfil production tasks autonomously. In non-production related activities like canteen, housekeeping, gardening, security types of activities where the skill set needed are different from the production needs, a range of manning solutions, including specialist service providers, are used.
Human Resources Policies and Procedures:
BMW Group has robust policies at Group level in relation to HR, OHS, working conditions, terms of employment, non-discrimination, freedom to establish or join unions, equal opportunity, and grievance handling.
Specifically, with respect to “diversity” and “equal opportunities”, these are handled through a holistic concept with employees’ uniqueness and individuality being important values. The full Board of Management of the BMW Group established a commitment to diversity as part of the company’s human resources and sustainability strategy back in 2010.
Working Conditions and Terms of Employment:
At BMW SA operations the terms of employment and working conditions are in accordance with the BMW Group policies, the local BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) and Employment Equity legislation, PS2 compliant with national labor and employment laws, and in cooperation with the relevant trade unions. Accordingly, each employee receives a contract clearly indicating i) the terms and conditions of the employment; ii) the compensation to be expected; iii) the benefits included, and iv) requirements for following the Company’s EHS standards and company policies.
The South African operation also operates with a bonus system, in addition to the negotiated salaries. These bonuses are applied to all direct employees and the matrix for the distribution is negotiated with the trade unions to ensure that the benefit is extended the actual staff on the production floor.
Workers’ Organization:
BMW Group respects the freedom of association of its workforce and workers at BMW SA are represented in negotiations by their respective trade unions.
Non-discrimination and Equal Opportunity:
BMW Group operates in more than 150 countries and employs 119 different nationalities in Germany alone. BMW Group has a specific statement in support of equal opportunity and diversity. The company also monitors and promotes the inclusion of women and has a focus on ensuring women’s successful return to their employment after maternity leave. These policies aim to prohibit discrimination based on race, colour, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, union membership, or political affiliation.
The Company closely follows, and publicly discloses its achievements in promoting gender equality in a sector typically dominated by male employees. There are also clear public statements in the organization on encouraging more female employees at all levels. At the global level the percentage of women in the organization has increased from 16.8% to 18.7% and the percentage of women in management positions have increased from 12.1% to 15.3% from 2012-2016. The BMW SA’s management has indicated that the challenges and general situation at the Rosslyn Plant reflect the global situation.
Retrenchment:
The production change from the BMW 3-series to the BMW X3 will, despite all the preparation being done in parallel, require a significant production shut-down for a period of several months. BMW SA has agreed that the current workforce will remain employed during this period, which will be used for intensive qualification improvement training programs, which in turn will benefit the company by having an improved trained workforce. After the production change, the plant will have an option based on market demand, to increase the production. No retrenchment is therefore foreseen.
Grievance Mechanism:
BMW SA has formal and well-established grievance mechanisms based on a set of company guidelines. This includes processes ranging from filing of grievances and suggestions in suggestion boxes right on the production floor in suggestion boxes to using BMW Group anonymous filing systems. Hereby the grievance system is expanded from only covering workplace situations to also include areas such as anti-bribery/anti-corruption; competition compliance; and trade regulations. The principles are also disclosed at www.bmwgroup.com
Protecting the Work Force:
BMW Group has strong policies against both child labor and forced labor. For South Africa these principles are also enforced via the local regulations.
Occupational Health and Safety:
BMW Group, as well as BMW SA have EHS functions ensuring all facilities are designed and established with adherence to corporate EHS standards. These central and local functions ensure that the local health & safety experts at each production facility are fully trained. The local experts then monitor and ensure that the plants follow the centrally developed principles on corporate safety.
The production of premium vehicles is based on high-tech systems for assembling of parts, which are partly produced at own facilities and others sourced from specialised auto-component manufacturing companies. The facility in Rosslyn is a highly specialized facility where robots and employees assemble parts received from such specialized suppliers according to on-time delivery systems. No major cutting, bending, or pressing operations are taking place as all parts are contracted to arrive 100% prepared for the final assembly process. The OHS risks associated with the Rosslyn facility are rather low. Much of the operation is automated with hi-tech robotic equipment, with minimal human contact. This includes the fully automated and water based body painting operations which takes place inside cabins that are not accessible to employees during the actual painting operations.
While the OHS risks associated with its operations are rather low, the company has conducted necessary job hazard risk analysis, and necessary preventive and mitigation measures have been implemented. Adequate personal protective equipment is provided to all the employees, contract labour broker placements and fixed term contractors, commensurate with the job risk.
All new employees receive safety training during induction, which is then followed by regular refresher training over the course of time. Further, all managers are given special training to ensure they have the correct behaviour to encourage and secure a consistent safe work environment.
The Group wide accident data are disclosed on a yearly basis and the LDA/MMM (Lost Day Accident/Million Man-Hours) has over the period from 2012 to 2016 fallen from 5.8 to 4.0. For BMW SA the accident frequency has over the period 2013 to 2016 fallen from 3.4 to 1.7 LDA/MMH. This is well below the 2015 average of 7.5 LDA/MMH in the motor vehicle manufacturing industry in USA (Ref: publicly available statistics OSHA).
Workers Engaged by Third Parties:
Any worker on the Rosslyn site is to respect and follow the same labour standards as those followed by the direct employees. Any accidents or incidents by a third party worker will be recorded in the general recording system and included in the overall statistics.
Supply Chain:
The BMW Group, including BMW SA has an extensive supply chain. For the production in Rosslyn alone some 368 suppliers are providing parts for the final assembly. This includes a large geographical distribution of suppliers covering South Africa, Europe, USA, Mexico, Asia, etc.
The BMW Group has established a global system and standards for its supply chain management, including 1) assurance of appropriate environmental and social standards in the supply chain, 2) promotion of transparency and resource efficiency in the supply chain, 3) purchase of raw materials from environmentally and socially friendly sources, and 4) purchase of renewable materials and materials with sustainable characteristics. BMW’s dedicated supply chain team regularly visits its suppliers for audits to ensure compliance with its standards and purchasing requirements.
