SF Rally-Speakout In Support Of Striking China Honda Transmission Workers

Striking Chinese Honda Transmission workers are fighting for wage parity at their plant. This rank and file strike is an important step for the Chinese workers in fighting back against the multi-nationals in China


6/1/2010 SF Rally-Speakout In Support Of Striking China Honda Transmission Workers

San Francisco Honda
10 South Van Ness at Market above the Van Ness MUNI station.southwestern entrance.
San Francisco


The critical dynamics of the Foshan Honda Transmission Workers Strike

The Foshan Honda Transmission Workers strike which has continued since May 21 has shut down all Honda production in China. The particular issue of Honda as a Japanese global corporation has made the suppression of the strike more difficult for the authorities as the remaining sensitivities to Japanese occupation and activities during WWII require very special handling on the part of officials and the Honda corporation.

The independence of the strikers from the official ACFTU (All China Federation of Trade Unions) also lends a dynamic to the work stoppage, where the official union has served only as a go between the strikers and the corporation. The strikers operate with their own organization. They have turned down already substandard offers of wage improvements.

The setting in southern China, just twenty miles west of Canton (Guangdong/Guangzhou) in Foshan, an old and established industrial city where unrelenting inflation makes life impossible for wage earners, illustrates the crisis in the coastal zone. Nearby is the ceramic center of Shiwan which has had a long industrial heritage together with Foshan.

The defense of the Foshan Strikers rises to a high priority for all supporters of trade union and workers rights. Given the central role in the auto industry and the transmission workers strategic ability to shut down all Honda production in China, this strike has already made history and brought global notice to the substandard minimum wage fight, raging across China.

Worldwide demonstration of support to force the authorities and Honda to recognize the rights of the strikers must take place at Honda facilities globally. From Greece to China, defending working people's rights here in California can most strongly progress by standing with the Foshan Honda Transmission Strikers who have stood in action for themselves and workers globally. The urgent need to defend the strike which is also our action against the untenable corporate global system that threatens the future of all humanity.

Join San Franciscans Tuesday June 1, 2010 at 4PM at San Francisco Honda 10 South Van Ness at Market above the Van Ness MUNI station.southwestern entrance.
Initiated by Peace and Freedom Party Labor Committee
To Speak and Endorse Contact (415)694-3605
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org