The China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) recently revealed that progress has been made as a result of its joint campaign to create more grassroots unions for Chinese leather workers along with the China Alcoholic Drinks Association (CADA). Leatherbiz is reporting. Both bodies fall under the jurisdiction of the China National Light Industry Council, which operates as a kind of bridge between government and business.
China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) recently revealed that progress has been made following its joint campaign to establish more grassroots trade unions for Chinese leather and wine workers alongside China Alcoholic Drinks Association (CADA).
Both bodies fall under the jurisdiction of the China National Light Industry Council, which operates as something of a bridge between government and enterprise.
CLIA said that its partnership with CADA represented a “first” for the country’s light industry. The catalyst for this latest push on behalf of local workers, which began early last year, was a speech delivered by President Xi Jinping to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions leadership in autumn 2018, it added.
At the time, President Xi reportedly emphasised the need to mobilise hundreds of millions of workers to contribute to a new era, stressing labour movements’ ties to the cause spearheaded by his own party, the Communist Party of China.
Regarding the leather industry specifically, work began in February last year to conduct research into and subsequently analyse the formation of labour unions geared towards leatherworkers operating in more than 40 industrial clusters across the nation. Enterprises were grouped according to their number of employees (ie, over 100 workers, 51 to 100 workers and 25 to 50 workers) and a directory of businesses that had not yet established or joined hands with a trade union was put together.
More recently, CLIA reported that it has taken steps to promote the purpose and significance of leather industry trade unions via a public WeChat social media account, among other publicity-generating channels, plus delivered what it described as special training.
Its research team has also made in-person visits to enterprises in Chengdu’s Wuhou district, as well as those located in the city of Xinji and town of Baigou in Hebei province, on top of “other leather industry bases”, in order to supervise and inspect the activities of newly formed trade unions in action.
The organisation has further acted to strengthen engagement with local business associations, industrial management departments and companies in general in a bid to better understand their unique circumstances, it emphasised. This has been followed by the implementation of what it called advanced demonstration sites, which it is hoped will better support parties in the formation of leather industry trade unions through targeted guidance and promotion.
Next steps for the Chinese leather industry include “deepening” this work, CLIA concluded, as part of a wider effort to expand the penetration and “in-depth development” of national light industry trade unions.
