- Title: CHINA: Honda China workers hold strike for higher pay and freer unions
- Date: 12th June 2010
- Summary: POLICE CORDON BLOCKING ROAD TO FACTORY VARIOUS OF HONDA LOCK FACTORY GATES
- Embargoed: 27th June 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Employment,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA9Z8SDN46TQDE1PNX0IBEY5MTI
- Story Text: Workers at a Honda lock factory in southern China faced off with management on Friday (June 11) over demands for higher pay and freedom to form independent unions, officially banned in the communist state.
Around 500 workers gathered on the road outside Honda Lock, which makes locks for Honda cars in China in the city of Zhongshan near Macau, and refused to start work.
Riot police, security personnel and Chinese officials blocked roads refusing to let the strikers out of the area.
Honda Lock workers' demands included higher pay, as well as the right to choose their own representation instead of having to use official state-sanctioned labour unions.
China has been experiencing a surge in labour unrest at foreign-owned factories as a new generation of mostly migrant workers agitates for a greater share of the country's growing wealth.
"We come out here from our home towns, we come here to earn money," said one Honda Lock worker, who did not want to be named. "We don't want to strike either, but we need to earn money. We don't want to strike because nobody wants to lose their jobs. We just want to earn money, that's all."
"We want to reorganise our labour union," said striker Lin Wen Wu. "How can we expect this present union to do anything for us? It seems the workers have no right to speak," factory worker Lin Wenwu said.
Earlier, management had asked workers to sign a document agreeing to a 100 yuan ($15) raise per month, far less than what workers were demanding.
"I've been working here for five years, some people have been working here for 10 years and they only get a pay increase of 20 yuan a month every year," said another female worker.
Using loud-speakers, management representatives warned of serious consequences if the strike continued.
"Regarding your demand for a pay rise, let's return to our factory to discuss. What you are doing is very serious and it's bad for you too," a Honda Lock manager said.
About 50 riot police blocked one end of the street at some point, but later gave way to let workers leave the area after management told them to go home and return in the afternoon to negotiate.
"Now everybody should go home and rest and return to the factory at 1pm. This is all I am going to say to you today," said another member of Honda Lock management.
Though few of the workers heeded the call at first, the crowds began to disperse later in the morning.
Several of the workers told Reuters they would go home but come back to the factory on Saturday (June 12) to see how the situation stood, not ruling out another day of strikes.
They had been picketing since Wednesday (June 9).
The confrontation at Honda follows a growing number of labour disputes in China that started in the affluent Pearl Delta area of Guangdong but have since shown signs of spreading to other areas.
Honda Lock is the third factory supplying Japan's No. 2 automaker to go on strike in the past month.
Honda China said that two of its car-making plants that were left idle by the series of disputes were up and running again on Friday. It added the lock factory strike was having no impact on operations for now, but it was unclear if work would continue over the weekend.
Management said some employees were inside the factory but did not say how many or if they were working.
Strikes have been reported this week at a Taiwanese-owned sporting goods supplier in Jiangxi province, and at Japanese sewing machine maker Brother Industries in Xian -- both far from China's wealthier regions near Hong Kong and Shanghai.
The burst of reported strikes is a worry for China's ruling Communist Party, which has long discouraged independent worker action and punished protesters.
While Beijing's vow of better salaries for workers and farmers is a cornerstone of government policy, local officials are often focused on attracting investors with cheap, trouble-free labour to fuel China's export boom.
All of the problems reported so far have occurred at foreign-run factories, prompting at least one company, Taiwan's Hon Hai, to say it is looking for other locations to shift some of its production.
Labour costs in general still only make up a small portion of most companies' costs in China, usually around 5 percent.
Most disputes centre on workers resentful of large income gaps, higher living costs and long hours with little rest, and employers trying to rein in rising costs as labour pools shrink.
Resolution of the disputes has resulted in sizeable pay increases, including a 66 percent raise for workers at Foxconn, a subsidiary of Hon Hai, and 20 percent or more for workers in the first Honda strike. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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