Some production had resumed on Monday at a strike-hit factory making locks for Honda Motor Co in China, a spokesman said, amid reports the plant was looking to replace striking holdouts.

The strike is the latest in a series to hit factories around southern China's Pearl River Delta and a few other regions by workers demanding a greater piece of China's growing economic wealth.

Honda had previously said production at the Honda Lock plant in the city of Zhongshan re-started on Saturday. Some production was running on Monday, but only partially as a number of holdouts had sabotaged operations, said Honda Lock spokesman Hirotoshi Sato.

He had no update on whether negotiations were continuing among some holdouts, most of whom walked off the job on Wednesday, seeking more than the 100 yuan ($15) per month pay increase that Honda Lock had previously offered.

Over the weekend the plant launched a campaign to hire replacements at the factory, which normally employs about 1,500, as many workers had refused to return to work, the South China Morning Post reported.

Recruitment advertisements were common on the streets of Xiaolan, where the factory is located, the newspaper reported.

Two workers told Reuters they had seen some recruitment posters, but could not comment further. Sato said he had no knowledge of the recruitment campaign.

Meanwhile, Guangqi Honda, one of Honda's China car-making joint ventures, was closed on Monday for a public holiday that would run through to Wednesday, said Honda spokeswoman Akemi Ando in Japan.

Production at Guangqi Honda's two carmaking plants was disrupted last week because of strikes at two other parts suppliers, which were later resolved.

Generally, working conditions at car assembly plants are much better than in other industries, whether we're talking about wages or general treatment, said Wen Xiaoyi, a researcher at the China Institute of Industrial Relations in Beijing. But conditions at parts suppliers tend to be worse. The reason is car assembly requires mostly skilled workers with some specialized training, but car parts manufacturing is less sophisticated, so workers are less educated and their pay is lower.

On May 28, the Communist Party's propaganda department issued a gag order forbidding mainland media from reporting on strikes, fearing a destabilizing impact from the unrest, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday.

The gag order followed extensive coverage by mainland media of the first Honda strike in the city of Foshan in late May.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo, and Doug Young and Alison Leung in Hong Kong; Editing by Chris Lewis)

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