A strike has broken out at a south China factory supplying parts for Honda Motor Co., the latest in a string of stoppages by Chinese workers demanding a bigger piece of the country's economic wealth.

The strike, at Atsumitec Co. in the city of Foshan, began on Monday, with 170 workers striking after management fired about 100, a worker who declined to give his name told Reuters by telephone.

A Honda spokeswoman in Tokyo said the factory supplies shift levers (gear sticks) to the car maker's local plants, and said the workers had been on strike since July 12.

She said the action has not had any impact yet on Honda's car-making operations in China, some of which were affected last month by strikes at other parts makers. 

The latest strike marks the end of a couple of weeks of relative calm for foreign-run Chinese factories, which saw several weeks of work stoppages in May and June by laborers demanding higher wages.

The government appears to be prepared to let such strikes continue as a way to let wages gradually rise, said Geoffrey Crothall of the China Labour Bulletin.

"I think it's going to happen throughout the year. It's not going away unless the government stops it. But it's the government's position that they really want to raise income level in order to support the consumption growth of the country," he said.

"And we are seeing rising expectations on the part of workers -- people know that other factories are having these pay raises and they will expect that from their own employers," Crothall added.

The strike follows a turbulent period in June, which saw hundreds of workers at a number of foreign-owned factories, many of those in the affluent Pearl River Delta, walk off the job demanding better pay.

Toyota Motor Corp. was also affected by labor unrest, but is confident it can handle such situations going forward, a China-based executive told China's official Xinhua news agency.

The Xinhua report, unrelated to the labor action in Foshan, cited Liu Peng, Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co Ltd, saying the company was confident it could "properly handle labor disputes, which are increasingly being heard as Chinese workers become more vocal about their interests".

"In the long-term, Toyota will also build a platform for better communication between management and employees," Liu was quoted as saying.

The strikes also highlight how just-in-time manufacturing, now highly popular among western manufacturers, can put companies at risk because it allows little margin for error when supply chains get disrupted.

Assertive workers

The strikes are a symptom of a broader trend that many investors will have to consider: a Chinese workforce becoming more assertive and selective, and sometimes inclined to protest by strikes, slow-downs and, most often, quitting.

"The chance of more strikes increases the more successful the previous strikes are. There's been more and more communication between workers and advocacy groups," said Duncan Innes-Ker, Beijing-based China analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

"The workers have networks to exchange information even when there has been a state media blackout. The example set in one place tends to encourage others," he said.

The wave of current unrest hit a peak in June, but reports tapered off at the end of the month. The last reported stoppage, at Japanese-owned Tianjin Mitsumi Electric Co, ended on July 3.

China's domestic media have been largely mute about the strikes, apparently due to state censorship. But Xinhua has issued reports about the unrest on its English-language service.

Labor costs in China have been rising, partly encouraged by a government that wants to turn farmers and workers into more confident consumers, even as it tries to keep a lid on strikes.

Earlier strikes disrupted production at auto makers Toyota and Honda, and have laid bare the rising demands of China's 150 million migrant workers, especially younger ones wanting to secure a foothold in urban areas.