A strike at one of Toyota’s China-based parts suppliers has ended, allowing production to resume at its nearby auto plant today after a one-day stop, the Japanese automaker said.
The strike is among several that have plagued Toyota and Honda Motor Co in China, which has been shaken by unrest among migrant workers who are becoming increasingly vocal in their demands for a piece of China’s growing prosperity.
Workers at a plastic parts factory of Toyota Motor Corp affiliate Toyoda Gosei Co in Tianjin went on strike on Thursday, forcing the plant’s production line to shut down in the afternoon.
But that ended on Saturday, and production was set to resume yesterday, although that is usually a day off for the workers, Toyota spokeswoman Mieko Iwasaki said. She declined to give terms of the deal, but the strike had been over wages.
The Kyodo news agency, citing officials in China, reported that workers at Toyoda Gosei agreed to an earlier management proposal for a 20 percent wage raise from the previous year, although they had sought a bigger pay increase.
The walkout followed a one-day strike by workers at another Toyoda Gosei unit and Toyota supplier, Tianjin Star Light Rubber and Plastic Co (天津星光椽塑公司), which ended on Wednesday after the company agreed to review the pay for its 800 workers.
Iwasaki said Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co, Toyota’s auto plant, will be back up today as supplies begin to arrive from Toyoda Gosei.
Earlier strikes at several China suppliers of Honda Motor Co forced it to suspend car assembly intermittently in the past month due to a lack of parts.
Workers at Honda Lock (Guangdong) ended a strike and went back to their jobs earlier this week after the company agreed to continue with talks on their demands for wage increases.
The spate of recent strikes comes as workers, who put up with slower wage growth during the recent economic slowdown, are demanding higher wages and better conditions now that the economy has rebounded.
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