Chinese wild cat strikes spread; hit Toyota, Carlsberg

Zhongshan: Toyota Motor Corp and Danish brewer Carlsberg are the latest victims in a series of wild cat strikes spreading across the Chinese mainland. The car maker said Saturday it had shut down its main plant after workers walked out at the plant of its plastic parts supplier.  A strike also began on Friday at a brewery partly owned by Carlsberg in the south-western city of Chongqing.

Toyota's labour woes are the latest in a series of strikes that last hit Honda.

Honda offered a hefty 24 per cent pay hike to staff at its main parts factory to end a strike even as employees at another plant agreed to resume work though negotiations on wages are still in progress.

Taiwanese firm Foxconn doubled salaries after 11 workers committed suicide at its plants. The firm counts Apple, Dell and Sony among its clients.

Toyota's Tianjin plant, with three assembly lines and a combined annual production capacity of 420,000 vehicles, shut down over the weekend as it failed to secure supplies from strike-hit parts supplier Toyoda Gosei, which is shut down because of two walkouts.

Observers now say that widespread disaffection among an estimated 130 million strong force of migrant workers may end up challenging the Beijing regime's legitimacy and affect the country's pre-eminent status as a low-cost global factory hub.