Honda suffered its second strike in China in less than a month as workers at a plant partly owned by affiliate Yutaka Giken Company walked out demanding higher pay, forcing the parts maker to close the factory.
Employees at Foshan Fengfu Autoparts Company in Foshan, Guangdong province, began the strike yesterday, said Yutaka Giken (Tokyo) spokesman Kazuhito Anma. The strike hasn’t disrupted Honda’s local vehicle production as the car maker has sufficient inventory, said Honda (Tokyo) spokesman Yoshiyuki Kuroda, where the company is based.
Honda agreed last month to raise pay by 24 per cent to end a walkout at a wholly owned parts supplier in Foshan, which halted its car production in China for more than a week.
Demands for higher wages are fast becoming an issue in China and companies need to get used to it, said Deutsche Bank Economist Jun Ma. “If you don’t meet the demands of the workers, social stability will be threatened,” Ma said by phone from Hong Kong.