gcarter
05-30-2010, 07:27 AM
Or, "Why I'm glad I Was Born Here".......
Honda asks Chinese workers to avoid industrial action
By Tom Mitchell in Foshan
Published: May 30 2010 06:09 | Last updated: May 30 2010 06:09
Honda (http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=jp:7267) has asked workers at one of its China factories, closed since last week by an unprecedented strike, to pledge that they will refrain from further industrial action.
The Japanese company’s hard-line against union activity emerged even as it struggled to resolve the wage dispute at a transmission factory that has also forced the closure of its three joint-venture car plants (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e27a832c-6944-11df-aa7e-00144feab49a.html) in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, and Wuhan in central China.The strike at the Honda plant coupled with a spate of recent suicides at Foxconn (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2f9a03c0-6a86-11df-b282-00144feab49a.html), the world’s biggest contract maker of electronics and China’s largest employer, are increasingly shining a spotlight on the conditions that workers face in Chinese factories.
The “promise note” distributed to employees at Honda Automotive Components Manufacturing in Foshan, a factory town west of Guangzhou, states that they “absolutely will not lead, organise or participate in work slowdowns, stoppages or strikes”.
It also asks workers to undertake that they will not participate in gatherings that “violate employment regulations, cause the company economic harm or have a negative social influence”. Honda’s employees, however, appear to be standing their ground.
“No one is going to sign it,” said one worker at a company residential compound about ten kilometres from the transmission plant.
He and other workers either discarded the forms unsigned or defaced them as they loitered at Shishan Plaza, a roadside residential area with few amenities aside from a food market, cheap restaurants and an internet café. Their shifts have been suspended as negotiations between worker representatives, Honda and government mediators continued.
All employees who spoke with the Financial Times asked that their names not be used for fear of possible retribution by their employer or the government, which keeps a tight lid on union activity through the officially sanctioned All China Federation of Trade Unions.
“The official union leaders are useless and support management,” another Honda employee said. “They don’t even dare show their faces.”
The Honda workers’ ability to organise themselves independently – and the impact they have had on a major multinational’s overall China operations – distinguishes their action from myriad other industrial disputes that routinely flare up across the country.
Honda workers said they earn Rmb900-1,500 ($130-220) per month depending on experience and overtime. They are asking that monthly salaries be raised to Rmb2,000-2,500.
In its latest statement on the dispute, Honda said “a portion” of the workers had rejected two management resolution offers and negotiations were continuing.
At least one-third of the plant’s roughly 1,800 employees are trainee workers from technical colleges. Use of temporary and intern labour has increased across southern China’s factory belt as the global economic recovery and more employment opportunities near migrants’ inland homes have shifted bargaining power from management to labour (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a08bc2f4-2228-11df-9a72-00144feab49a.html).
On May 28, Foxconn (http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=tw:2354), a Taiwanese contract manufacturer for clients such as Apple, Dell and HP, announced it would increase wages 20 per cent (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5e1ee750-6a05-11df-a978-00144feab49a.html) after a series of suicides at a large factory in Shenzhen, another south China manufacturing centre.
Foxconn said the raise was unrelated to the suicides. The move also anticipates an expected double-digit increase in Shenzhen’s minimum wage after a two-year freeze, in line with similar adjustments by other local governments.
Honda asks Chinese workers to avoid industrial action
By Tom Mitchell in Foshan
Published: May 30 2010 06:09 | Last updated: May 30 2010 06:09
Honda (http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=jp:7267) has asked workers at one of its China factories, closed since last week by an unprecedented strike, to pledge that they will refrain from further industrial action.
The Japanese company’s hard-line against union activity emerged even as it struggled to resolve the wage dispute at a transmission factory that has also forced the closure of its three joint-venture car plants (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e27a832c-6944-11df-aa7e-00144feab49a.html) in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, and Wuhan in central China.The strike at the Honda plant coupled with a spate of recent suicides at Foxconn (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2f9a03c0-6a86-11df-b282-00144feab49a.html), the world’s biggest contract maker of electronics and China’s largest employer, are increasingly shining a spotlight on the conditions that workers face in Chinese factories.
The “promise note” distributed to employees at Honda Automotive Components Manufacturing in Foshan, a factory town west of Guangzhou, states that they “absolutely will not lead, organise or participate in work slowdowns, stoppages or strikes”.
It also asks workers to undertake that they will not participate in gatherings that “violate employment regulations, cause the company economic harm or have a negative social influence”. Honda’s employees, however, appear to be standing their ground.
“No one is going to sign it,” said one worker at a company residential compound about ten kilometres from the transmission plant.
He and other workers either discarded the forms unsigned or defaced them as they loitered at Shishan Plaza, a roadside residential area with few amenities aside from a food market, cheap restaurants and an internet café. Their shifts have been suspended as negotiations between worker representatives, Honda and government mediators continued.
All employees who spoke with the Financial Times asked that their names not be used for fear of possible retribution by their employer or the government, which keeps a tight lid on union activity through the officially sanctioned All China Federation of Trade Unions.
“The official union leaders are useless and support management,” another Honda employee said. “They don’t even dare show their faces.”
The Honda workers’ ability to organise themselves independently – and the impact they have had on a major multinational’s overall China operations – distinguishes their action from myriad other industrial disputes that routinely flare up across the country.
Honda workers said they earn Rmb900-1,500 ($130-220) per month depending on experience and overtime. They are asking that monthly salaries be raised to Rmb2,000-2,500.
In its latest statement on the dispute, Honda said “a portion” of the workers had rejected two management resolution offers and negotiations were continuing.
At least one-third of the plant’s roughly 1,800 employees are trainee workers from technical colleges. Use of temporary and intern labour has increased across southern China’s factory belt as the global economic recovery and more employment opportunities near migrants’ inland homes have shifted bargaining power from management to labour (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a08bc2f4-2228-11df-9a72-00144feab49a.html).
On May 28, Foxconn (http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=tw:2354), a Taiwanese contract manufacturer for clients such as Apple, Dell and HP, announced it would increase wages 20 per cent (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5e1ee750-6a05-11df-a978-00144feab49a.html) after a series of suicides at a large factory in Shenzhen, another south China manufacturing centre.
Foxconn said the raise was unrelated to the suicides. The move also anticipates an expected double-digit increase in Shenzhen’s minimum wage after a two-year freeze, in line with similar adjustments by other local governments.