Samsung Apologies to Factory Workers Who Developed Cancer, Offers Compensation
“We sincerely apologize to the workers who suffered from illness and their families.”
Samsung Electronics has ended a decade long legal dispute between its semiconductor and LCD factory workers in South Korea and China with a $150 million USD settlement and a public apology.
Workers will be compensated $150 million USD for multiple conditions formed by working in their factories, some of which include developing cancer, multiple sclerosis, having miscarriages, as well as maturing diseases affecting the employees’ children.
The terms of the settlement were agreed upon by both parties and signed November 23 by Kim Ki-nam, the head of Samsung’s semiconductor business, and Hwang Sang-gi, the father of a 22-year-old Samsung factory worker who died from leukemia.
“We sincerely apologize to the workers who suffered from illness and their families. We have failed to properly manage health risks at our semiconductor and LCD factories,” said Ki-nam.
Samsung has not divulged what chemicals in their factories caused such severe health issues, claiming the information is protected by trade secrecy.
“The apology honestly was not enough for the families of the victims but we will accept it,” Sang-gi said. “No amount of apology will be enough to heal all the insults, the pain of industrial injuries and the suffering of losing one’s family.”
In other tech news, Amazon workers held a strike during Black Friday over horrible working conditions.
