|Video Courtesy of NTDTV |
Honda strike workers in white outfits and hats with Honda logos rallied by walking in Honda’s Nanhai Auto Parts Manufacturing Company in Foshan, China. They shouted slogans and expressed their demands of the strike to journalists on May 27, reported Sing Tao Daily on May 28.That day, the auto parts company demanded its employees to sign a “No-Strike Agreement,” which states that employees must not lead, organize, or participate in strikes. The company also fired the two leading strikers, the Xinhua News Agency reported on May 28.
The workers refused to sign the agreement; instead, they drafted their own version of agreement to demand for a “pay raise, reform in the company management system, the return of fired workers, and no punishment afterwards.”
“If the company does not do this, we will not resume production work,” said the Honda strike workers’ version of the document.
Hundreds of workers at the Honda plant in Foshan, Guangdong province, China, originally went on strike May 17. Workers refused to work without an increase in pay, causing a halt in production at four auto plants in China. It is still unknown when the workers will return.
The Honda strike workers say that though their salary is around 1,000 yuan (approximately US$142) a month, only 800 yuan (US$117) is left after taxes and provident funds are deducted. After food and housing expenses, they have barely anything left to live on. Interns receive only 500 yuan (US$73); some interns say that they cannot afford to travel back home, though they live in Guangdong, Chinese Business Media reported on May 29.
However, technical aid workers from Japan receive special treatment: a monthly salary of 50,000 yuan (US$7,321) and the company-covered food and lodging.
The factory has 1600 workers, half of whom are interns. After the Honda strike started on May 17, the workers and the company have negotiated several times to no avail. The workers eventually went on a full strike on May 24 and remain on strike presently.
Honda employees also say that workers constantly come and go because of the low wages. The company is forced to continuously recruit new workers. Therefore, workers’ training has been reduced from one week to 3 days, according to Chinese Business Media’s article.
[xtypo_dropcap]A[/xtypo_dropcap]ccording to one of the factory’s managers, the Nanhai Auto Parts Manufacturing Company manufactures 2400 transmissions daily. They are usually sold for 10,000 yuan (US$1464) each, plus the expenses of other accessories, so the Honda strike production halt results in the loss of 40 million yuan (US$5.9 million) a day in that plant alone. Since May 21, Nanhai Auto Parts has lost nearly 300 million yuan (US$44 million) due to the strike.
Because this Honda factory is the exclusive transmission supplier in China, its strike caused production halt to three other Honda factories in China. They are facing an overall daily loss of 200 million yuan (US$29 million) in production.
Honda has established joint ventures in China since 1982, producing motorbikes and automobiles. Honda in Guangdong has recently announced a production expansion, which would result in Honda producing 730 thousand automobiles in China annually.
The recent Foxconn employees’ suicide incidents and the rare strike by Honda workers in the Pearl River Delta District reflect the growing tension in China’s labor market. China’s economic model of cheap labor and processing trade export is facing a serious challenge. How to shift from labor-intensive industries to technology-intensive industries poses an even greater challenge. Management of Chinese workers by foreign companies in China will also have to adjust because of the growing tension, according to an editorial by Taiwan’s Central News Agency on May 30.
Both Foxconn and Honda have offered wage increase to their employees. A recent editorial by the New York Times pointed out that China’s recent prosperity has contributed to rising industrial wages in China -- but that it is unclear if the trend continues, whether China will be able to maintain its competitive advantage and keep foreign companies manufacturing there.
Read the original Chinese article
