Wage strike hits another Honda supplier in China

Honda Motor Co, the second-largest Japanese automaker, is facing another wage strike at its supplier's factory in China, a few weeks after two similar strikes were resolved in the Guangdong Province.

Production came to a halt this week at the plant of a Chinese affiliate of Honda, Atsumitec Co, an auto parts maker, after workers went on strike asking for a wage hike.

Atsumitec, located in Foshan, Guangdong Province, supplies auto parts to a Honda assembly plant in China but the car maker said that the strike will not affect its assembly plant operations as it has enough stock of auto parts.

Atsumitec supplies Honda's automatic cars select levers that are used for changing gears automatically.

Honda said that talks are underway to settle the wage dispute but did not reveal when it would be settled.

This is the third such strike to hit Honda suppliers in China.

Last month it settled wage strikes at Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing plant that makes exhaust pipe and at Foshan Fengfu Autoparts that supplies mufflers and other exhaust parts for Guangqi Honda, a joint car venture between Honda and Guangzhou Automobile of China, which makes Honda's Accord, Odyssey and Fit. (See: Honda faces strike at another Chinese plant) 

Overseas firms in China are now increasingly facing labour issues with migrant workers, many from the vast countryside, demanding better pay and service conditions.

Analysts say China is rapidly turning into a developed market from an emerging market and labour costs were set to rise. They say car makers have little choice but to accept higher costs and wages if they want to continue to do business in China.