Hundreds of workers at four Beijing food plants owned by a Republic of Korea company have gone strike for higher pay, the latest in a string of walkouts by Chinese factory workers.

More than 200 workers at the plants run by the Lotte (China) Food Co. Ltd., a solely-funded subsidiary of the ROK's Lotte Group, stopped work Monday.

Production was yet to resume at the plants in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area in the southeast suburbs of the city, a spokesman with the area's administrative committee said Thursday.

Workers and officials told Xinhua that due to the economic downturn, the Lotte company had not given the usual annual pay rise to workers last year, so workers had high hopes for this year's increase.

But they were dissatisfied with the pay rise proposed by the company earlier this month, saying that it was less than expected.

"The company put forward a second plan Wednesday and solicited the opinions of the workers," the spokesman with the area's administrative committee said.

The four plants have more than 400 workers in total, and the company has given leave to those workers who are not participating in the strike.

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