Union leaders call for closer cross-Straits ties

Senior labor union leaders from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan on Tuesday called for deepened communication and cooperation among union organizations and workers from the two sides.

"Unions from both sides of the Taiwan Straits should be more open in exploring new means to communicate and cooperate, and we especially should create conditions for grassroots and young workers from both sides to communicate," Chen Hao, vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the top union organization in the mainland, said at the 2013 Cross-Straits Labor Union Forum in Beijing.

Chen said his organization plans to establish a base in Xiamen, Fujian province, this year, providing a platform for workers from the mainland and Taiwan to communicate and cooperate in technological innovation and skill training.

More than 20,000 union staff and workers from the mainland and Taiwan have participated in communication activities such as exhibitions, seminars and skill competitions since 2008, he said.

Huang Ho Tsai-feng, director general of the Taiwan-based Cross-Straits Labor Development and Exchange Association, said her organization has held various activities between workers from both sides of the Straits in recent years.

Such activities should be held more often to improve skills and strengthen ties of workers from both sides, she said.