Textile industry finds it pays to be nice to workers

BEIJING - Jiangsu Danmao Textile Co Ltd is a fabric manufacturer employing 1,082 by the end of last year. The company's average monthly salary was 2,281 yuan in 2010, up 25 percent from 2009.

Yarn producer Bros Holding Limited, headquartered in Ningbo, Jiangsu province, has a workforce of 12,057 and last year increased its staff's monthly salary by 23 percent to exceed 2,000 yuan on average.

In addition to a 14.5 percent year-on-year salary hike, textile group Zhejiang Tiansheng Holding Group Co Ltd spent nearly 2 million yuan on welfare for its 3,457 employees last year.

The figures are clearly listed in all three companies' annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. By the end of June, 44 textile companies had edited and released their 2011 CSR reports, compared with 10 in 2009. Employee interests and rights protection form one of the fundamental parts of the document.

Rising wages and welfare improvements in China's textile industry are not only the norm these days. They also indicate the extent to which the nation's textile businesses, both big and small, have begun to actively shoulder their social responsibilities in terms of taking care of their employees, according to Sun Ruizhe, vice-president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) and director of CNTAC's CSR office.

"Many textile businesses have realized that when implementing a CSR management system, a combination of technology upgrading, 'green' working practices, employee rights protection and shorter working hours can lead to increased productivity and efficiency," said Sun.

Zhejiang Tiansheng, one of the first Chinese textile companies to adopt a CSR management system, has released its CSR reports for three consecutive years.

Its sales surged to 9.99 billion yuan last year from 6.32 billion yuan in 2008, an annual growth rate of 26 percent. At the same time, staff enjoyed annual pay rises of 22 percent.

"We respect and take care of our employees. They feel comfortable here and work hard. As our business grows, they feel proud and want to stay," said Song Yonggen, chairman of the textile group.