Mexico City - The 9,400 union-affiliated workers of Volkswagen in Mexico went on strike Tuesday, after their efforts to secure a wage increase failed.

VW's Mexican plant - the only one in the world to make the New Beetle model - mostly sends its production to the US market. The firm has refused to give in to demand for a pay hike because of the severe financial and economic crisis that continues to affect its main market.

Victor Cervantes, the leader of the VW workers' union, on Tuesday put up the red and black flags that traditionally mark striking factories in Mexico.

He said the union had reduced the request it made last month for an 8.25-per-cent increase to a 3-per-cent immediate pay raise, while the company had maintained its original position in recent talks.

The firm said in a statement that workers had rejected VW's offer of a single payment of about 424 dollars coupled with a 1 per cent wage increase set to go into force in February 2010. The average wage of union-affiliated workers at the plant amounts to about 28 dollars per day.

The plant is located in Puebla, about 120 kilometres east of Mexico City. A previous strike at the factory in 2006 lasted five days.(dpa)