Honda has asked workers at one of its Chinese factories, closed since last week by an unprecedented strike, to pledge that they will refrain from further industrial action.
The Japanese company's hard line against union activity emerged even as it struggled to resolve the wage dispute at a transmission factory that has also forced the closure of its three joint-venture car plants in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, and Wuhan in central China.
The Honda strike coupled with recent suicides at Foxconn, the world's biggest contract maker of electronics and China's largest employer, are increasingly shining a spotlight on the conditions workers face in Chinese factories.