Chinese Textile Industry Gets New CSR Focus

The opening ceremony for the Joint Project on Corporate Social Responsibility in the Chinese Textile Industry has been held, with representatives attending from the China National Textile and Apparel Council, International Labour Organization, and United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Sun Ruizhe, vice president of CNTAC and director-general of CNTAC's corporate social responsibility division, heralded the occasion and said, "China is at a very critical moment for sustainable development. CNTA, as a representative of the industry, has taken the scientific approach to promoting sustainability."

Sun stressed that Chinese textile companies would continue to implement  the China Social Compliance 9000 for Textile & Apparel Industry standard, also known as CSC9000T. This is a social responsibility management system based on the Chinese laws and regulations, international conventions and practices, as well as China's special needs.

According to CNTAC, the promotion of CSC9000T aims to protect the legal rights of employees. Enterprises can also benefit from the CSC9000T implementation through enhanced core competitiveness due to improved management systems, human resource management, organizational culture, and brand image. CSC9000T should also benefit other stakeholders because it can satisfy buyers' requirements, make investors more confident in the enterprises, and improve relationships with the local community.

Sun says CNTAC has established relationships with retailers, government agencies, and organizations aimed at both increasing productivity and increasing human resource management.

Constance Thomas, director of the ILO office for China and Mongolia, said, "This is one of the first times the ILO and UNIDO have collaborated at the country level on a project."

Thomas said it will continue to be very challenging to help integrate CSR into the Chinese textile industry, but this means there are many new areas where the ILO and its partners can help develop the textile sector in China.

Thomas added that the textile was a good sector to use for this type of project because the low margins make occupational safety and health, human resource development, and CSR issues a challenge. She said the ILO recpgnizes these problems and understands that if China raises the bar, the entire global industry will have to follow suit.

Zhang Xubiao will be the project manager for this new intiative, which also includes help from the Swiss government.