Sat, Jun 19, 2010 page10

• Second strike hits Toyota parts supplier plant in China

  • REUTERS
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  A parts supplier for Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday it was dealing with its second strike this week, the latest in a rash of factory labor disputes spreading across China.

  The chance of more industrial action also loomed over a Honda plant in the southern manufacturing heartland of Guangdong Province, where workers were waiting for a new pay offer later yesterday before deciding whether to resume a strike they suspended on Tuesday.

  Parts supplier Toyoda Gosei said production had stopped since Thursday afternoon at a plant in the northern port city of Tianjin, where it makes parts like instrument panels.

  Workers leaving the factory in heavy rain declined to speak to journalists, but a visiting employee of a nearby factory said there was a strike on and police were inside the plant. Police vehicles could be seen parked inside the factory’s grounds.

  A separate stoppage halted work at another Toyoda Gosei plant on Tuesday. While management say output is back to normal after they promised to discuss wages, some workers there have said they are still striking or on a go-slow.

  In Chongqing, a short strike at Chongqing Brewery Co (重慶啤酒) ended yesterday after talks with management, said brewer Carlsberg, a part owner of the plant.

  Workers feared that a plan by Carlsberg to raise its stake in the firm to nearly 30 percent would threaten their benefits, a local official told reporters by telephone.

  “There was not good enough communication to the employees about the agreement,” Carlsberg spokesman Jens Bekke said. “They were informed and now they have gone back to work.”

  Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, this week called for higher workers’ incomes to protect stability, while Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) called for better treatment of workers.

  The sympathetic, if tightly limited, accounts of worker grievances in state media suggest Beijing wants to avoid outright confrontation with the workers and may welcome some concessions.

  In Guangdong, workers at the factory, which makes locks for Honda Motor, put down their tools last week but agreed on Tuesday to go back to work until yesterday on the understanding management would present them with an improved deal on wages and benefits.

  Honda’s new package for workers in the lock factory was expected to be presented yesterday but negotiations between management and employee representatives continued to show signs of strain, workers said, and some are willing to resume striking.

  Honda has also been taking dozens of potential new hires to a training center, possibly hedging against further unrest.

  The strike at Honda Lock is the third to hit an auto parts supplier for the giant Japanese carmaker in recent weeks. Workers at the factory said spreading word of successful strikes at other Honda auto parts suppliers had inspired them to agitate for improved compensation.

  Wen Xiaoyi (聞效儀), a researcher at the China Institute of Industrial Relations in Beijing who specializes in labor relations in the automotive sector, warned more spontaneous unrest could be hard for firms to handle because workers, although extremely discontented, were afraid of putting themselves forward in negotiations with management for fear of repercussions.
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