WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE !: Honda Workers Bypass ‘Toothless’ China Unions, Fueling Strikes

[marmar]

July 1 (Bloomberg) -- When Huang Fengxia and her co-workers at Honda Lock Co. (Guangdong)’s factory in Zhongshan, China, decided to strike on June 9 for higher wages, the last person they considered contacting was their labor union representative.

“I have no idea what a labor union is or what they do,” said Huang, 26, whose one yuan ($0.15) monthly union membership fee gives her no access to collective bargaining, just a twice- yearly 200 yuan gift voucher during Chinese festivals. “It’s like a school club.”

Strikes at plants of Japanese automakers Honda Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. mark an escalation in labor disputes in China, the world’s biggest manufacturer after the U.S., as a dwindling supply of cheap rural labor pushes up wage demands. With no effective labor unions to negotiate with to head off stoppages, China’s factories face increased costs and lost production, said Mary Gallagher, director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan.

“These disputes are troublesome for employers and employees because they require time and money to resolve,” said Gallagher. “If there was an apparatus that allowed for collective bargaining and negotiation, we might see a decline or stabilization in labor disputes.”

Profit at Honda may be cut by as much as 10 billion yen ($113 million), after Japan’s second-largest carmaker suffered the worst strikes in its 18-year-history in China, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. At least 10 suicides at Foxconn Technology Group, the maker of Apple Inc. iPhones and Hewlett-Packard Co. computers, led the Taiwanese electronics company to double wages for its lowest paid employees in Shenzhen. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=al...

[DJ13]

1. The Chinese people have finally had enough of being taken advatage of

Its about time!

[roguevalley]

5. there has been unrest a long time, especially among farmers

facing drought. this could get very interesting. Go, WORKERS! SOLIDARITY!

[Warpy]

2. Well, we knew it had to happen

The Chinese are intelligent and resourceful people and there is no way they're going to accept slave labor conditions one minute more than they absolutely have to.

They weren't going to be a docile workforce forever. I'm glad to see the awakening.

[DireStrike]

3. Great, hope America is next.

Unions are smothered in completely ridiculous rules and regulations that should be ignored. There should be far more strikes and far more union organizing. Weak union leadership is finally beginning to wake up a little... we'll see if it does anything.

[leftstreet]

4. K&R