Just when Honda thought the worst was over, they have been hit by another strike by workers at its exhaust factory in Chancheng, China, just days after the settlement of a strike at another supplier.
According to reports, the strike at Foshan Fengfu Autoparts started early Monday when around 20 workers began rallying their colleagues to take part in the demonstration.
It gathered steam and numbers rose to 250 workers in a few hours, which is more than half of the 460 people working at the plant. No word has been given as to the reason for their strike, though it would be safe to assume that it would be regarding pay or work conditions.
Foshan Fengfu Autoparts is a joint venture between Yutaka Giken, which is 70% owned by Honda, and a Taiwanese company. The factory makes mufflers and other exhaust parts for Guangqi Honda, a 50:50 joint venture between Honda and Guangzhou Automobile that produces the Accord, Odyssey and Fit, among other models. Honda is assessing the situation but have confirmed that there are enough parts to continue making cars, for now.
Workers from a Guangdong plant supplying transmissions to Honda received a pay raise last week after striking last month over wages, bringing Honda’s car production in China to a halt. Their success spurred Foshan Fengfu’s staff on. “If their strike hadn’t been successful, our workers here probably wouldn’t be as united as we are now,” a 22-year old worker from Hunan was quoted by South China Morning Post as saying.
The Guangdong plant “victory” could spark a whole new revolution in China when it comes to factory worker wages. China could possibly cease being the cheap labor haven it currently is.
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Honda can come here and set up shop. We won’t put up a strike. Not in our blood.
yes, I support more foreign factories in malaysia.
honda malaysia service is very bad. we malaysian have to mogok like china worker.
anyone know their office address to complain of their service?
honda malaysia customer service does not take complain.i think they purposely remove email or address to prevent customer complain…
It took me 20 seconds to find the link..
why couldn’t you?.
http://www.honda.com.my/abouthonda/contactus/
20 seconds? Your internet must be slow.
I think this is a lesson for Malaysian workers complaining about low pay. If it’s a legitimate complaint, take action and go on strike!
Treat ppl with respect and give them what’s due.. labours are cheap in China and India but they are humans too.
I think it’s a snowball effect, soon the rest of auto factory workers will voice their concerns this way, simply because it’s effective.
If Honda comes here and set up a factory here, would our people accept a pay which is so less?
No, right?
But i expect that almost every things are increasing due to raising pay for these workers…..
honda already came here, and setup a factory. and im pretty sure their line workers in the factory aren’t paid very high. malaysian factory workers are paid pretty low.
haha.. so malu when peter give that comment.. he dont even know there is a melaka honda factory since many years ago…for honda ckd model like city..
…. malaysia=kilang proton only …accept it that way :) LOL
wait…wait..if we all go on strike…we will be put under ISA…since all kind of assembly should obtain license/approval from local authority first…
with all the subsidies been cut, interest rate up, tax up…i think we should all go on strike…forget CUEPAC since they only consider what government told them to do.
labours also cheap in Me’sia. we work twice as hard as other workers in the world but being paid half the price. what to do…it has been that way since our independence…
now every worker in china wil be encouraged to strike knowing that the companies will eventually give in ,in few yrs time china will not be a cheap labour destination…
Yupp, the reason why big international companies invest in China is cheap cost of labour. But as usually, cost of living increase so do wages, reality of emerging countries turning into developing countries. Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia used to be the emerging countries with cheap cost of labour and huge number of international companies set up their operation. So basically, this is finance of business. The ‘in’ countries are China, Vietnam, India but cost of labour sure go up. I think the next emerging countries to watch out for are Laos, Cambodia and Myammar once the regime are removed. But my bet is on Myammar…..hopefully the people there revoke against the evil regime…
than china will be like us and all cars will be expensive like us…who knows…
can the size of the whole ASEAN market equal the mainland China?
China is the biggest market in terms of many many goods, if one company want to make a shiny penny in China, the best way to avoid import duty and to produce the goods fitting in the taste and demand of the local folk is the local production.
It’s actually more than cheap labor. It’s not as simple as that. Otherwise, investors will simply just rush to any regions/countries with even cheaper labor such as Africa, India, Cambodia, Philippines, etc to open factories and these countries will quickly become developed.
I guess China economy is growing too fast and the standard of living at some place is high. Its time for these people to strike at the government as well.
They are growing too fast, way faster then their capability to accommodate the benefit of the low income group.
We M’sia on the other hand, wasn’t any better.
Is this the turning point where china will no longer b a world superpower? China depends so much on foreign investment . So if sooner or later china will lose its status as a cheap labor country. Do you think companies would continue to invest in china if labor is gonna b more expensive in the near future?
They will stay. With 1.5b people, even if 2% buy your product, that’s 3m customers.
1.5b ppl? how many times did you make such a mistake. It’s 1.3+ billion.
@Maserati, a true world superpower is established on the technology intensive industries owned by their own ppl, rather than those OEMs. China has given rise to many famous and excellent companies on theri soil but the vast majority of them are focusing on the domestic market. And it’s reported that the next round of the development strategy of China has been shifted from export oriented economy to consumption driven economy, and the labor intensive factories seems to be unwelcomed in China’s coast areas.
You’re right. 1.3b population. So that’s 2.6m customers. Still substantial, no?
definitely yes, and the middle class population is estimitated to be more than 4-50 million in fact
China the country is rich but a lot of the people are just barely making ends meet. There’s also a shift in labor force now where instead of an exodus of workers from the interior to the coastal cities for work, people are opting to find work in cities near their villages. This is why they are reporting a labor shortage especially in the coastal cities e.g. Guangzhou etc.
Eventually, China will not be a cheap production base. They’re moving fast up the value chain and the only way these foreign companies can keep producing there is to either make higher valued goods or take a cut in profit margins.
There’s also Vietnam and Cambodia to consider now.
Panasonic went to cHina afewyears back but now back to Malaysia. We (Malaysia) do have something that no other have. Just ponder a bit. Do not let a few bad apple spoilt it.
I was skepticall before. I mer a few French people who told me do what I could do and everything will be okay. If I look back tediously I do found it is true.
Didn’t you know, companies that sat up factories here in Malaysia got two years free tax!
Why doesn’t M’sia go to build their own “Panasonic” instead of counting on those OEMs, dude? it’s not a significant thing to be proud of in fact.
Malaysia have our own Panasonic. It’s call Pensonic! Besides, Malaysians won’t support anything Malaysian. I’ll leave it at that.
on the spot bro…on the spot…
No need Ip Man for this. Haha..
i like your comment.
never think of that
yea ..IP Man dont need appear in this chaos…haha..
Good man!
all the pay for malaysia under pay lar.. dont talk shit here.
yeah…damn all the company bosses
Second that, enough is enough, for all the exploitation.