Honda Motor Co. said striking workers that have frozen production at its car plants in southern China have accepted a 24 percent wage increase, possibly allowing operations to resume Thursday.

The strike at a Honda parts factory, which has paralyzed four car assembly plants, reflects broader trends of growing dissatisfaction among China's long-suffering workers with lagging wages and generally harsh working conditions.

"Most of the employees on strike at the plant have agreed to new wages, and some production started there from today," said spokeswoman Yasuko Matsuura in Tokyo.

She said "almost all" of the striking workers have agreed to increasing the total starting wage by about 24 percent to 1,910 yuan ($280) per month.

The company said in a press release issued Monday evening in Tokyo that it is still negotiating with the remaining striking employees through government arbitration.

Matsuura said the factories that depend on output from the parts plant would remain closed through Wednesday, with the schedule after that still undecided.

China outlaws unauthorized labor organizing, limiting such activities to the government-affiliated All China Federation of Trade Unions and to company branches of the ruling Communist Party.

But in recent years authorities increasingly appear to be tolerating sporadic, peaceful protests by aggrieved workers. In the Yangtze River Delta region, near Shanghai, sit-ins and other protests are common, though rarely reported in the state controlled media.

Global manufacturers, which rely on low-wage Chinese workers to keep costs down, are struggling to attract and keep young workers who are proving less willing than earlier generations to put up with miserable working environments and poor wages.

Zhu Linjie, a company spokesman in Beijing, would not comment on the status of talks with workers at Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing Co., who went on strike May 17. The resulting lack of transmissions and engine parts forced Honda to shut production at its four assembly plants last week.

"Since the problem stems from demands for higher wages at our parts factory, we want to resume production there first. After that, perhaps one or two days later, our four car plants will get back to normal operations," Zhu said.

The strike has affected two factories at the Guangqi Honda Automobile Co. joint venture in the southern city of Guangzhou, which make the Accord sedan and Odyssey minivan. Dongfeng Honda in central Hubei province, which produces the Civic and CRV SUV, also suspended output.

Guangzhou-based Honda Automobile China, which has a daily capacity of 120 Jazz models, was expected to partially resume operations and produce about 50 vehicles on Monday.

Honda's parts factory, located in Guangdong province, employs 1,900 people.

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Associated Press Writer Jay Alabaster in Tokyo contributed to this report.