【英语中国】罢工事件可能影响丰田中国供应链

Two work actions hit Toyota Motor Corp.-affiliated suppliers this week in the port city of Tianjin, prompting executives to warn that the company's assembly lines in China are vulnerable to labor turmoil that could disrupt its vehicle production.

Toyota's brush with worker unrest follows a wave of strikes and other incidents in southern China that have affected Japan's Honda Motor Co. among other companies.

'There is a fairly high risk that this type of unrest might spread to our supply chains in China,' a Beijing-based Toyota executive said.

Another executive in China said, 'There is a distinct feel to this that not just us but factories around China are going to face more demands for pay hikes.'

Executives say the Chinese central government's relatively tolerant attitude toward strikes may be a factor in encouraging workers to press their issues. In the recent southern China labor disputes, authorities have generally refrained form sending in police to break up strikes, a tactic often used when disputes become high-profile.

On Tuesday, a number of workers at Tianjin Star Light (Xingguang) Rubber Plastic Co., which is 51%-owned by Japan-based Toyoda Gosei Co., which in turn is 42%-owned by Toyota, walked off the job, demanding a pay increase. The workers, however, quickly agreed to return to work, allowing the maker of rubber weather strips to avert a full-blown factory-wide strike.

In a separate incident early Thursday, some 40 workers in the logistics department of another plant affiliated with Toyoda Gosei walked off the job. A senior Japanese manager at the factory said the plant -- Tianjin Toyoda Gosei Co. -- managed to arrange 'relief workers' to come in, and the plant, with some 1,700 workers, is continuing to ship steering wheels and air bags among other components without much disruption.

'But if this continues, we may disrupt production at the Toyota plant,' said the Toyoda Gosei plant manager. The Tianjin Toyota plant can pump out 400,000 vehicles a year and produces the Corolla, among other vehicles. As of late Thursday, the walkout was still in effect, the plant manager said.

The Toyoda Gosei manager said workers began threatening to strike a week or so ago. The plant agreed to provide a 20% wage increase Tuesday evening, and the factory's labor union formally accepted the offer Wednesday. But workers in the plant's logistics department, which handles parts deliveries to Toyota plants, began asking for a bigger pay raise.

Hitoshi Yokoyama, a Beijing-based Toyota spokesman, confirmed there was a small strike at Tianjin Star Light Tuesday and that a limited walkout was unfolding at Tianjin Toyoda Gosei Thursday. He said Toyota's vehicle-assembly operations around China remained unaffected Thursday.

本周，在中国港口城市天津，丰田汽车公司(Toyota Motor Corp.)的关联供应商发生了两起劳工事件，促使公司高管警告说，公司在华组装线易受劳工纠纷事件的影响，相关事件有可能破坏其汽车生产。

在丰田公司受罢工事件影响之前，中国南部发生的一系列罢工等事件已经对日本本田汽车(Honda Motor Co.)等公司造成了影响。

Reuters今年1月，顾客在天津一家丰田汽车经销商处看丰田Rav 4轿车。丰田公司驻北京高管说，此类罢工向我们的在华供应链蔓延的风险相当高。

另一名在华高管说，可以很明显地感觉到，不仅我们，全中国的工厂都将面临越来越多的加薪要求。

高管们说，中国中央政府对罢工相对容忍的态度或许会成为鼓励员工向雇主施压的因素之一。在劳动纠纷规模较大时，当局常常运用警力出现制止。但在中国南部近期发生的劳资纠纷中，当局在运用警力方面通常较为克制。

周二，天津星光橡塑有限公司的多名工人罢工，要求加薪。但这些工人很快同意复工，使这家橡胶密封条生产商得以避免了一场大规模、全厂范围的罢工。丰田合成(Toyoda Gosei Co.)持有天津星光公司51%的股份，同时，丰田汽车公司持有丰田合成42%的股份。

Reuters丰田合成一家天津工厂的保安试图阻止记者拍照。这家工厂曾有多名工人罢工。周四早的另一起事件中，丰田合成关联的另一家工厂约40名物流部门的员工罢工。工厂的日本高级经理说，天津丰田合成公司设法安排了替班工人，因此这家有着约1,700名员工的工厂仍在继续发送方向盘和安全气囊等部件，未出现明显的业务中断。

丰田合成的工厂经理说，但如果罢工继续，或许会扰乱丰田工厂的生产。丰田汽车公司在天津的工厂年产汽车400,000辆，主要生产卡罗拉等车型。工厂经理说，截至周四晚，罢工仍在继续。

丰田合成的经理说，约一周前，工人便开始威胁要罢工。周二晚，工厂同意加薪20%，并且工会于周三正式接受了这一加薪幅度。但负责向丰田工厂运送部件的物流部门员工开始要求更大的加薪幅度。

丰田公司驻北京发言人横山仁(Hitoshi Yokoyama)证实说，周二天津星光工厂发生了小型罢工且周四天津丰田合成的小范围罢工仍在继续。他说，丰田汽车在全中国的汽车组装业务周四尚未受到影响。