Strike breaks out at Honda exhaust supplier in China

A new strike has broken out at a factory making exhaust systems for one of Honda Motor's China joint ventures, Honda said on Tuesday, just days after the settlement of a strike at another Honda supplier in China.                                           

Some workers at the factory, a joint venture between Yutaka Giken, which is 70% owned by Honda, and a Taiwanese company, had been on strike since the first shift on Monday, a Honda spokesperson in Tokyo said.                                           
 

The factory makes mufflers and other exhaust parts for Guangqi Honda, a 50-50 joint venture between Honda and Guangzhou Automobile.                                           
 

Honda was assessing how production could be affected, the spokesperson said, adding that there were sufficient parts for now to build cars at Guangqi Honda.                                           

The labour action at the plant, Foshan Fengfu Autoparts, began early on Monday when about 20 workers began rallying their colleagues to go on strike, the South China Morning Post reported.                                           

The group had persuaded about 250 workers to join their action by evening, the newspaper reported. The plant in Chancheng employs about 460 people, including 300 frontline workers.   
 

The action comes after workers at another plant supplying transmissions to Honda's China joint ventures received a pay raise last week after striking over wages, bringing Honda's car production in China to a halt.                                           
 

"If their strike hadn't been successful, our workers here probably wouldn't be as united as we are now," the newspaper quoted a 22-year-old worker from Hunan province as saying.                

Foshan Fengfu is the main suppliers of exhaust systems and other parts used in China for Honda's Accord, Odyssey and Fit, which are made by Guangqi Honda, according to the newspaper report.