One in 10 Daimler workers have HIV

By Chandré Prince

ALMOST 10 per cent of the workforce at the DaimlerChrysler South Africa plant in East London have tested HIV positive – but the number of employees dying from full-blown Aids has dropped significantly.

Of the 3 000 employees at the West Bank plant, 288 have tested positive in the last year.

The statistics were revealed yesterday by the group’s medical adviser Dr Clifford Panter, who speculates the mortality rates could have been higher had it not been for the formulation and implementation of the company’s comprehensive HIV/Aids workplace programme in November 2000.

“Our mortality rate is very low, mainly because of the programme in place. We would have lost a lot more people and the cohesion of the organisation would have been damaged,” Panter said.

DCSA, one of the country’s biggest motor manufacturers, is one of the largest jobs creators in the city.

The company lost the first employee to the virus in 1992, and this marked the beginning of the burgeoning epidemic in the company.

In 1999 the plant lost 15 employees to Aids-related illnesses, but by last year this had dropped to four Aids-related deaths. The company now spends R1,5-million annually on the programme that has now resulted in 90 per cent of the workforce being tested to determine HIV status.

About R670 is spent per employee each year on prevention, care and support initiatives, and an average of R11 000 a year on each infected employee or family member for HIV/Aids treatment costs, including anti-retroviral drugs.

Since the inception of the programme, a 60 per cent reduction in Aids mortality has been achieved in 2004, with no deaths recorded among the patients on the HIV/Aids care programme, Panter said.

But 86 of the 288 employees at the plant who tested HIV-positive over the last year preferred not to enrol in the care programme.

“This is due to fear of stigma, denial or even that their jobs would be in jeopardy,” he said.

The programme, which has been recognised internationally, involves education, awareness, advocacy, integrated health care, risk management and community involvement.

Bottom-line consequences – which include the cost of absenteeism, scarcity and cost of skilled labour, higher training costs, reduced productivity, lower work morale and pension scheme pressure – do not pose major financial implications for the company.

On the contrary, Panter partly attributes the company’s new contract to build 80 000 C-Class Mercedes Benz cars a year to the company’s pro-active approach to the epidemic that is claiming the lives of millions around the globe. He said that had this not been the case, the company would have suffered far greater financial losses due to death or disability.

“We wouldn’t have achieved quality or met targets to maintain production,” he said.

Numsa shop steward Rodney Bantom echoed Panter’s sentiments about the success of the workplace programme.

“In the past workers were afraid to get tested. Now more and more, especially the younger ones, are getting to know their status. Previously they were scared about confidentiality, but the company has proved that it can be trusted, ” Bantom said.

He agreed that the current scenario could have been different, with more people “suffering in silence”.

“The company has gone all out to prevent a crisis and gives workers 110 per cent in this regard. Spending money on the well-being of workers is not an issue for DCSA. With even the slightest cough, you are sent to the clinic,” Bantom said.

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