FOSHAN, CHINA — A strike at an auto-parts factory owned by Honda in southern China has unexpectedly become a cause célèbre in the nation’s struggle with income inequality, with Chinese media reporting extensively on the workers’ demands and calling on the government to do more to increase wages nationwide.
Strikes have occurred before at Chinese-owned factories and on rare occasions at foreign-owned plants. But the authorities have typically hushed them up and either sought a quick deal or sent in the police.
The 1,900 workers at the Honda factory here have been on strike to demand higher pay since early last week, and on Friday there was no resolution in sight. The resulting shortage of transmissions and engine parts has forced Honda to halt production this week at all four of its assembly plants in China, with one closing on Monday and the other three on Wednesday.
The work stoppage is the clearest sign yet of growing labor unrest in a country that is now the cornerstone of many companies’ global supply chains.
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O/T but something really weird happened to my font when I added a link a few minutes ago. In the blink of an eye Verdana was gone and something else appeared affecting everything in WP. I’m not happy and trying to sort it out.
At the moment I have no clue what occurred but it’s an interesting problem so I shall continue to explore. I may be awhile.
Update:
Problem isolated to Firefox. IE Explorer is fine as is the rest of my computer. Working.
Strange, cause Honda’s Alliston plants have never gone on strike. Not being unionized helps.
I guess that proves paying ones employees a decent wage and benefits will cancel out any chances of a union forming.
Re: #1 — Got it. “Cntrl + 0″ restored the page. It appears to be my problem and nobody else’s. That didn’t take long.
Re: #2 — China has a huge problem because as soon as other workers see the power of a strike it will be happening everywhere. Welcome to capitalism. They’re going to love it.