54. Chapter 4: The employees
procedures in place to provide active protection
for employees who are particularly vulnerable to
sexual harassment. Sixty nine per cent of our
employees have access to a specific harassment
grievance procedure. This has resulted in a total
of 4 reported harassment cases in 2005.
Heineken fully complies with the national and
international standards for child labour. The lowest
minimum working age reported in any Heineken
production unit in 2005 was 15 years. Most
operating companies set a minimum working age
of 18 years.
During the reporting period we have dealt with
two incidents regarding employee rights. The first
incident involved a number of dismissed employees
who, claimed that they had been dismissed
because of their ethnic background. An official,
independent inquiry led by the national police
force of the country in which the alleged ethnic
dismissals took place concluded that there was
no evidence to support these allegations.
Consequently, the dismissals were upheld.
The second incident concerned allegations that
employees were pressurised not to join a certain
trade union. This incident occurred in a recently
acquired brewery; after intervention by local
management, good relations were restored.
While we believe that our track record regarding
employee rights is good, both incidents highlighted
the need to be more specific about what is
required of local management and to make sure
employees understand their rights more clearly.
To this end, we have produced a series of drafts,
stating Heineken's position on specific employee
rights. In 2004 and 2005 a number of dialogue
sessions with employee representatives took place
under the umbrella of the European Works Council.
These have provided valuable input and will help us
to finalise our position on a number of employee
rights. Our ambition is to do this before 31
December 2006.
At the same time, we will develop an implementation
framework, using self-assessment and risk inventory
tools such as the Human Rights Compliance
Assessment Tool to allow our operating companies
to determine their own performance and assess
where possible weaker spots are. The Heineken
positions will then allow them to bring their
performance in line with the standards set out by
the company. It is our intention to start testing this
implementation framework in 2006.
In 2005 Heineken was approached by the leading
Dutch trade union, FNV, to participate in an in-
depth analysis of its employee rights performance
in a number of countries. We have granted the
researchers, responsible for the data collection,
Yes
No
Employees are informed about developments within their company
100
0
Employees are consulted on developments
63
37
Employee satisfaction is measured on a systematic basis
60
40
Employee privacy is protected
92
8
Internal grievance procedure for labour relations exists
68
32
Employee informationPercentage of workforce
Heineken N.V. - 2004/2005 Sustainability Report
