Honda says operations resume at China assembly plants

SHANGHAI: Japanese automaker Honda said its assembly lines in China resumed full operations Friday after production was stopped more than a week ago by a strike at its auto parts factory in the country's south.

The walkout at Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing Co in the city of Foshan brought the carmaker's vehicle production to a screeching halt last week as its assembly lines ran out of key components.

"Operations have resumed today", Zhu Linjie, a Beijing-based Honda spokesman told referring to Honda's Chinese assembly plants, mainly managed by its two joint ventures - Guangqi Honda Automobile and Dongfeng Honda Automobile.

The auto parts plant resumed full operations Wednesday after Honda offered a 24 percent pay rise to workers to end the strike.

The company said it was ready to give a 366-yuan (54-dollar) raise to the 1,900 workers at the plant, taking monthly salaries including allowances to 1,910 yuan.

However, the workers, who have asked for a salary increase of 800 yuan and better promotion opportunities, have threatened in a public letter dated Thursday to walk out again if their claim is not accepted, according to US-based China Labor Watch.

Honda previously acknowledged some workers at the factory were still dissatisfied with the pay rise offer. But when asked about the threat of a strike on Friday, Zhu said "we do not confirm such information".

Honda has a production capacity of 650,000 vehicles a year in China. The Foshan auto parts unit in southern Guangdong province -- China's main factory belt -- makes transmission and engine parts.