Support striking Honda workers in China

Seventy-five years ago, as auto assembly and parts workers gathered in Detroit to start our union, they faced pitifully low wages, no rights on the job and substandard working conditions.

The men and women who built the UAW were tough-minded people who were unwilling to bend to the will of the bosses. They changed the world.

Today workers at the Honda Lock factory in Zhongshan, China, are looking to change their dismal world: They’re on strike to win $1.34 an hour wages – and some justice.

And that’s where you can help.

Please go online and sign the National Labor Committee’s letter (sample at right) to Honda’s CEO in Japan. Help these abused workers in China better their lives and win justice. Help them show that a profitable corporation like Honda must treat its workers fairly. Help them show that they can win, even though the Chinese government actively discourages independent trade unions and censors news about the strike.

And help yourselves by taking a stand against the race to the bottom where all workers – in China and here in the United States – lose. Tell Honda to stop the firings. Tell Honda to end the violence and intimidation against workers and negotiate in good faith. 

The Honda Lock factory exports tons of auto parts to its huge warehouse in Bremen, Ga.  From there the key sets, outside door handles, door locks, door mirrors and wheel sensors made in China are shipped out across the United States and Canada.  We have an absolute responsibility to raise our voices for justice for these workers. We must be a strong voice for those who do not have a full voice themselves. In addition, while we are doing the morally right thing, we are also protecting our standard of living in the long run.

The NLC works to defend the rights of all workers in the global economy. Just think of what a different and more humane world it would be if workers all across North America, Japan and China were united.

Vince Piscopo

To sign the letter to Honda’s CEO, visit the NLC’s Website at nlcnet.org