Employers used to dictating terms to their Chinese workforce are learning to beg, plead and cajole. But a softer tone is just the start of the learning curve, as company bosses also adjust time-honoured practices to accommodate the new power dynamic emerging on their factory floors.

At a strike-affected Honda plant in southern Guangdong province yesterday, management posted a note assuring workers that their contracts would be renewed and no one would be fired for participating in an industrial action that began on June 7.

“Regarding the demand for a wage increase, the company promises to reply in 10 days,” concluded the notice at Foshan Fengfu Autoparts, which makes exhaust components for the Japanese carmaker's China assembly plants. Behind Foshan Fengfu's gates, workers loitered in their company uniforms. They are not working,” said one businesswoman who does outsourcing work for the Honda subsidiary. “They are just hanging out in the factory.”