The capital's workforce took another step toward widespread collective bargaining this week when the system was rolled out to more companies.

On Tuesday, the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions selected 10 "important liaison institutions" to promote the collective wage bargaining system. The institutions were spread throughout a range of districts and businesses.

The 10 selected institutions include commercial centers, urban neighborhoods, suburban townships and villages, development zones and specific sectors.

The Municipal Federation said it expects the partners to advance collective wage bargaining in their subordinate enterprises.

The federation had already initiated trials for collective wage bargaining in the city.

At the beginning of the year, it set collective wage bargaining as a significant task for the year and suggested all sectors set wage standards.

Thirty-two areas and 23 sectors were selected to conduct the trials. Most of the enterprises that tested the wage bargaining system were either small- or medium-sized.

Others included State-owned companies and joint ventures.

The trials cover various sectors, including retail, catering, food processing, health services, construction, tourism, printing and more.

The level of wages paid the labor force has been a hot topic in China recently.

Statistics show that the share of remuneration for labor within the total GDP declined from 51.4 percent in 1995 to 39.7 percent in 2007. Against this background in which workers have shared less in the success of their employers, the Municipal Federation considers wages to be a core issue for the labor force and a priority for trade unions.

Huang Wei, director of the labor rights department of the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, told METRO that progress in the collective wage bargaining system should bring about higher wages in companies earning higher profits.

The Municipal Federation hopes to have collective bargaining systems in place in more than 65 percent of unionized enterprises in Beijing by the end of the year. It hopes the percentage will rise to 70 in 2011 and 75 in 2012.

Statistics from the Beijing Statistic Information Bureau shows there were 19,315 trade unions in Beijing enterprises, covering 3.72 million employees in 2008.

Zhang Shuying, president of the trade union of the Hongyuan Catering Company, said employees were enthusiastic about collective bargaining and stood to gain substantially through the process.