China: overview of the strike at Honda, a turn in employees’ claims

The story.  On may 17, 2010, over 100 workers from the Nanhai Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing Company, a factory fully owned by Honda Motors Co., located in the city of Foshan, Guangdong, went on strike, asking for an 800 yuan (about €90) wage increase (most employees make between 1,100 and 1,500 yuans – between €125 and €170 – a month).  When the management refused, more workers joined in.  For the first days of the strike, the management, which had agreed to a 300-yuan increase, threatened the strikers with laying them off.  It wasn’t enough to stop the mobilization.  After choosing their representatives, the employees opened negotiations with the management and presented their key claims: 1/ a monthly 800-yuan wage increase for all employees, regardless of their status (employee or articled students); 2/ higher seniority benefits; 3/ an annual pay growth of at least 15%.  For its part, the management began with firing the two leaders of the movement and then sought to bring about division by making different offers to employees and articled students.  But the strategy had the opposite effect: it increased solidarity between the strikers and led to most employees joining the strike.  The strike continuing at Nanhai Honda led to production stopping in four other Honda factories in China.  On June 1st, the strikers published an “open letter” (gong kai xin) declaring that, not only would they defend the interests of Nanhai Honda’s 1,800 employees, but also the situation of the working population across the country, and that they were ready to serve as an example for other workers.  Their claims were no longer simply about a wage increase but also about the democratic election of the company union.  Aware that they had support from the media and intellectuals, they mandated a labor law professor as legal advisor.  On June 4th, under the supervision of the local labor administration, talks were organized between the workers’ representatives, supported by their legal advisor, and the management’s representatives.  The representative from the official union didn’t attend.  The talks led to an agreement providing for an immediate 35% wage increase (530 yuans, €61) for everyone.  The other measure contained in this agreement is the management’s guarantee that it won’t turn against the strikers.  Work resumed afterward.