Tensions at the Honda Lock factory in Zhongshan, Guangdong, rose yesterday morning when striking workers were involved in a stand-off with riot police after management said they risked being laid off if they did not accept its offer of a 100 yuan (HK$114) pay rise.
Most of the workers, who arrived at the factory yesterday morning planning to continue their strike, were shocked by the management's 'take it or leave it' approach.
A Xinhua report on Thursday night claimed that the dispute had been settled.
Workers at the Honda Lock (Guangdong) factory in Xiaolan, Zhongshan, which employs about 1,500 people, downed tools shortly after 8am on Wednesday in the third strike to hit Japanese carmaker Honda's mainland operations in less than a month. The factory produces key sets, door locks and other parts for Honda.
The first industrial action to hit Honda's operations ended on June 4 when workers at Honda Autoparts Manufacturing in Foshan went back to work after a two-week strike that led to parts shortages that closed Honda's four car factories in Guangzhou and Wuhan . Management agreed to increase their basic salary by about 500 yuan.
Their success prompted about 250 workers at a Guangdong exhaust parts supplier, Foshan Fengfu Autoparts, to walk off the job on Monday, demanding better wages and double pay for overtime. That strike was said to have ended on Wednesday, although no details of the agreement have been obtained. The strike at Foshan Fengfu led to the suspension of production at Guangqi Honda's plants in Guangzhou's Huangpu district and the Guangdong city of Zengcheng for two days. Production resumed yesterday, according to a Beijng-based Honda spokesman.