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(Breaking News- Honda agreed this week June 7th,to a 25 % raise accross the board. Now you can earn MORE THAN $200 PER MONTH building Hondas in China. Whoopee for Honda!)

A strike at a Honda parts factory in southern China seemed to be partially over on Monday.

The dispute over wages began last week and halted production at the carmaker’s four assembly plants in China.

Honda said “a majority” of the 1,900 workers had accepted a 24 percent pay rise and returned to work making transmissions, but some are continuing the strike.

One woman said: “In the factory, if you work overtime, your salary would usually be higher, but we rarely get overtime. And our salary is very low. I’ve been working here for two years. My basic wage is still 700 yuan (83 euros) and altogether I get 1,200 yuan (142 euros).”

Some strikers accused union officials of pressuring them to return to work and even manhandling them.

The Communist Party-backed All China Federation of Labour Unions discourages independent worker activism, and generally sides with management.

China, the fastest growing economy in the world, has been hit with a string of labour disputes at foreign firms, where workers have begun to demand better pay and working conditions.

Copyright © 2010 euronews

TAGS: Cars, China

A year through the lens - by Sergio Amiti

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they impose most of the sacrifices on low to middle income workers.

Greece has a problem fith Goldman Sachs TOO!
they impose most of the sacrifices on low to middle income workers.

1.) Elsewhere across the country, shops remained closed for the day while hospitals operated with emergency staff as doctors joined the walkout."The Greek people do not owe anything to anyone. It is those individuals who have stolen public money and pension funds that should be made to pay up," said Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras.

2.) Union leaders claim Greece is being asked to scrap salary bonuses that are worth two months' wages,
3.) impose a three-year pay freeze,
4.) raise the value added tax from 21 to 23 per cent,
5.) increase the retirement age from 62 to 67,
6.) as well as a public sector hiring freeze.
7.The government has already carried out three sets of austerity measures including tax hikes and pension freezes over the last six months.

Prime Minister George Papandreou said Friday painful cuts were "necessary for our country's protection, for our future, for us to be able to stand on our feet."Athens insists it needs help by May 19, the day it is expected to issue a 9-billion-euro bond issue to refinance its debt, in order to avoid a default that could spread to other eurozone countries with immediate deficit crises, such as Portugal and Spain.

But unions, already reeling from austere budget cuts, have called a new round of strikes on May 5 to protest against cuts foreseen for 2011 and 2012,
saying they impose most of the sacrifices on low to middle income workers.
The public sector union ADEDY, which represents half a million workers,

• has also called a 4-hour strike for Tuesday,
  
• on top of a nationwide strike already decided for Wednesday. Greek authorities aim to achieve 24 billion euros of spending cuts, lowering the deficit by 10 percentage points, currently standing at almost 14 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).That is almost five times the 3 per cent level foreseen by eurozone rules, which are regularly flouted by its members.The spiralling crisis, which saw the euro fall against the dollar amid credit rating downgrades for Greece, Portugal and Spain - led Germany to finally bow this week to international pressure to speed up the rescue operation.Berlin initially held a tough stance, especially since bailing out profligate Greeks is unpopular amongst German voters and may hurt Merkel's centre-right coalition's chances in the May 9 state election in North Rhine-Westphalia.Greece has been guilty of its free-spending ways for decades, running up debt equal to 115 per cent of GDP.
• The country suffered another blow on Friday after credit agency Moody's Investor Services downgraded the debt rating of nine Greek banks.
  
• It also said the banks' might face further downgrades in the future.

they impose most of the sacrifices on low to middle income workers. Copyright DPA