BMW has denied accusations by Numsa that it plans to retrench 550 workers before the end of the month.
BMW has denied accusations by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) that it plans to retrench 550 workers before the end of the month.
Numsa has accused BMW, Nissan and Ford of trying to “slaughter workers silently” by retrenching more than 1 000 employees.
In a statement, the union said BMW was planning to “eradicate other models and only specialise in the production of the right-hand 3-Series model” and this would result in the retrenchment of 550 workers.
Numsa said Nissan was retrenching 350 older workers as part of its rejuvenation plan and Ford was moving production of the Land Rover Freelander to Britain, which meant 117 workers would lose their jobs.
“According to the three companies the retrenchments must take place before November 30,” the union’s statement said.
BMW spokesman Richard Carter said there was no truth in Numsa’s statement. “BMW is not planning any layoffs and not changing its model strategy to exclude production of left-hand drive vehicles. On the contrary, our exports to the United States of left-hand models are set to increase and we will be building more of these vehicles.
“We are dismayed that the union is making such a statement as it creates uncertainty in our workforce and the industry,” Carter told CARtoday.com.
quoted Ford spokesman Craig von Essen as saying that the manufacturer was moving production of the Freelander to Britain as it was not profitable to continue making the vehicle in South Africa. But he said this would only happen early next year and confirmed that it would affect 117 workers.
“We are offering early retirement and voluntary separation packages and hopefully through this process we will get 117 workers. Then those Freelander workers who do not want to take a package can be accommodated elsewhere. But we will take it step by step and if too few workers volunteer for packages we will reassess it,” Von Essen told CARtoday.com.
Nissan senior vice-president Henry Grimbeek told the rejuvenation programme was not a new plan. He said Nissan had decided last year to offer retirement packages to older workers, but there had not been enough volunteers as Numsa had encouraged workers not to take up the offer.
Grimbeek said the manufacturer would continue to negotiate with the union to reach an agreement.
Ntuli told CARtoday.com that the union did not see the logic of the retrenchments. “Those workers must keep their jobs and the manufacturers must find new export deals,” said Ntuli.
He said they would negotiate with the manufacturers to try to settle the matter, “but if we can’t we will embark on industrial action”.