If you’ve been enjoying the 720p screen on AT&T’s LG Nitro HD, savor the experience – it may become rare in just a little while. At LG’s primary LCD factory in Nanjing, China, a labor strike involving 8000 workers is threatening to bring the company’s screen manufacturing plans to a grinding halt. That spells trouble for a lot of Android phone and tablet manufacturers, chief among them being (naturally) LG.

The workers tried to reach an amicable compromise today, but the negotiations ended in failure, and at present there’s no end in sight. They’re demanding better pay, equitable to what employees in LG’s native South Korea get, as well as year-end benefits. The strike has been going on since Monday, with irate employees breaking glass and a decorative Christmas tree outside the factory offices. LG is the second-largest manufacturer of LCD panels in the world, supplying internals for dozens of electronics manufacturers who don’t produce their own screens. More comprehensive companies, like Sony, Sharp and Samsung, shouldn’t be affected.

LG’s home office assured The Korea Herald that its operations wouldn’t be drastically affected, as other factories can modify their production lines to fill the missing demand. LG is one of three suppliers rumored to be producing panels for the iPad 3, so any interruption of service could give their competitors a major advantage. If the strike continues for a considerable period, supplies of existing phones from LG and its partners could dry up, and future models may have to make due with lower-resolution displays that have already been manufactured.

[via AsiaOne]