Former RCA employees win decade-long legal battle

BIG PAYOUT?The RCA Self-Help Association had sought damages of NT$2.7 billion, but the court said General Electric was not to blame and awarded NT$564 million

Staff writer, with CNA

Former employees of Radio Corp of America celebrate in Taipei yesterday after the Taipei District Court ruled that the company should pay NT$564 million in a pollution lawsuit against the company.

Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times

Former employees of Radio Corp of America (RCA) burst into tears as a court yesterday ordered that the now-defunct electronics company and its owners pay NT$564.45 million (US$18.11 million) in damages to 445 former workers and their families.

With pink banners around their foreheads saying “RCA workers never give up,” about 60 members of the RCA Self-Help Association cheered their victory after the Taipei District Court handed down the ruling on the decade-long legal battle in what has been described as the worst industrial disaster in the nation’s history.

“During my time at RCA, we were often exposed to organic solvents. No one knew whether the substances were hazardous to our health,” said Huang Chun-tiao (黃春窕), 56, who was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer after working at RCA for 18 years.

According to the verdict, the defendants asserted that the plaintiff had failed to prove that the health issues resulted from exposure to environmental factors, but judges opined that the causal relationship could be determined with “a reasonable degree of medical certainty” to be the toxicity of the organic solvents.

RCA operated in Taiwan from 1970 to 1992, with plants in then-Taoyuan County, Hsinchu County, and Yilan County, employing tens of thousands of people in the production of color TVs and other electronics products using up to 31 kinds of organic solvent, including trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethene, exposure to which increases the risk of cancer, the verdict said.

In 1998, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) found that the site of the former RCA plant in Taoyuan was contaminated with chlorinated organic solvents and other toxic chemicals used in its production after the company had illegally dug wells to discharge the toxic waste, which contaminated tap water used by its workers and nearby residents.

The 7.2 hectare plant has been designated by the EPA as a site of “permanent contamination.”

During the period between 1992 when RCA shut down its plants in Taiwan and 2004 when 519 members of the association filed the civil lawsuit, more than 1,300 of RCA’s former employees have been diagnosed with various types of cancer, with 221 of them dying, the verdict said.

A year after the takeover of RCA by General Electric (GE) in 1986, the firm was sold to Thomson Consumer Electronics, the US subsidiary of France-based Thomson Multimedia, which is now called Technicolor SA.

The RCA Self-Help Association had sought damages of NT$2.7 billion from RCA, GE and Thomson, but the court absolved GE of any blame, a decision over which Joseph Lin (林永頌), the lead lawyer for the association, expressed regret.

Lin thanked the judges for determining that the effects of the pollutants caused the diseases, a rare decision in a Taiwanese case.

The defendants have the right to appeal the Taipei District Court’s verdict.

taIWWan GMB Meeting in Taichung on 4-20-15 at 7pm

• Monday at 7:00pm - 9:00pm Next Week · 87°F / 72°F Partly Cloudy

• Show Map Belling's Deli & Eats 貝林西式肉品/餐廳酒吧 81 Taiyuan Road Sec. 1 太原路一段81號, Taichung, Taiwan

The Taiwan Industrial Workers of the World General Membership Branch (IWW GMB) will be meeting at Belling's Deli & Bar (81 Taiyuan Rd. Sec. 1 Taichung City

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Groups slam foreign labor rules

‘INCOHERENT’:The Ministry of Labor last year found that 70 percent of foreign caregivers work 365 days a year and 30 percent are given one day off per month

By Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Universal Care Policy Alliance convener Liu Yu-hsiu, second right, addresses journalists at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times

In response to the apparent misuse of foreign workers by members of the group involved in the Apache helicopter tour debacle, civic groups yesterday accused the government of failing to protect the rights of foreign caregivers and the interests of Taiwanese seeking work in the caregiving field.

The incident, in which a group of civilians — dubbed by local media outlets and netizens as the “privileged group” — were given access to a restricted military hangar housing AH-64E Apache helicopters, might not only have exposed lapses in military discipline, but also revealed violations of the Employment Service Act (就業服務法).

As foreign caregivers are legally allowed only to look after severely disabled elderly people and none of the group fit that criterion, commentators have said that the four foreign caregivers in the group had been asked to undertake duties not included in their employment contracts, such as caring for children.

It is not unusual to see foreign caregivers taking care of children, doing family chores, such as shopping, or accompanying families on day trips, the Universal Care Policy Alliance said.

“The Employment Service Act clearly prohibits ‘assigning a foreign employee work that is not within the sphere of the permit.’ The Ministry of Labor is probably the last to know, while the public is already well aware that many of the 220,000 foreign caregivers employed in the nation have been ‘multitasking,’” the alliance said.

The Ministry of Labor last year found that 70 percent of foreign caregivers work 365 days a year and 30 percent are given one day off per month.

“The authorities cannot even protect the labor rights of foreign workers now, but the government is considering lifting restrictions on the number of foreign caregivers allowed to work for lightly disabled people who are 85 and older,” the alliance said.

Government mistreatment of foreign caregivers and its attempt to further relax restrictions on their employment have reduced opportunities for Taiwanese who work in the care industry — particularly women, National Taipei University assistant professor Wang Pin (王品) said.

Alliance convener Liu Yu-hsiu (劉毓秀) called the government’s policy “incoherent,” as it calls for middle-aged Taiwanese women to start second careers as caregivers, but also plans to import more caregivers from overseas.

“Only 20,000 of the 100,000 people trained by the government as caregivers in the past seven years now actually work in that field,” she said. “What the government should do first is find out why.”

Federation for the Welfare of the Elderly director Lee Bih-tzy (李碧姿) opposed easing restrictions on foreign caregivers.

“We encourage the elderly to do as much as they can; healthy aging, rather than living long with disabilities, is the best option,” Lee said.

Workforce Development Agency Deputy Director Tsai Meng-liang (蔡孟良) said the civilian visitors to the military base would definitely be punished if they are found to have broken foreign labor laws.

“For their refusal to allow inspectors to enter the building to check on the status of their foreign workers they could be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000, and if they continue to refuse officials entry, their permit [to employ foreign labor] could be rescinded,” Tsai said.

Tsai said that the ministry has not relaxed the restriction on employing foreign caregivers, despite its preliminary conclusion that it should, and would continue with its “thorough and cautious examination of the policy.”

Most of Taipei firefighers’ suits said to be ‘expired’

‘NEVER BEEN INSPECTED’:：National Association for Firefighters’ Rights secretary-general Cheng Ya-ling said that the majority of protective clothing has not been tested

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Sat, Apr 11, 2015 - Page 3

Seventy percent of the fire suits worn by Taipei firefighters are “expired” and potentially worn out, putting their lives at risk, city councilors said yesterday.

Taipei City councilors Wang Wei-chung (王威中) and Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that an inventory list provided by the Taipei Fire Department showed only 349 suits for the department’s 1,243 firefighters. While the department claimed that any additional suits had been “scrapped,” interviews with firefighters revealed that close to 1,000 expired suits with more than three years of usage continued to be worn by city firefighters, the councilors said.

National Association for Firefighters’ Rights secretary-general Cheng Ya-ling (鄭雅菱) said the continued use of older suits was worrisome because there was no system in place for testing suit safety, with firefighters instead required to report any problems themselves.

She said that important problems — such as the suits’ fabric becoming brittle — could not be reliably tested by firefighters themselves without specialized instruments.

In addition, firefighters often feel embarrassed to ask for a replacement suit if damage is not obvious, although even a small puncture greatly reduces suit safety, she said.

“Most firefighters’ suits and hats have never been inspected,” she said “They have no way of being certain that this equipment can protect them, with ‘testing’ only occurring during real emergencies.”

However, even if firefighters discover a problem, the department’s lack of backup suits and equipment means that they must wait up to eight months before receiving a new suit, she said.

The Taipei Fire Department’s disaster rescue division director Wang Cheng-hsiung (王證雄) said that the department had provided an “erroneous” inventory list due to a “misunderstanding.”

While the Executive Yuan has set a three-year standard for the replacement of fire suits, because the suits are permanently flameproof, the department has chosen to use many suits for more than three years due to budget constraints, he said, adding that new suits cost NT$23,000 each.

He said that half of the department’s suits received a manual safety check every year during their biannual washing, adding that the check only encompassed deformities visible to the naked eye, with no way of determining whether the suits’ material had become brittle.

He added the department had already decided to begin replacing the suits every three years to improve safety and to provide all firefighters with their own backup suit, beginning with a budget request for 400 new suits this year.

Strike nears one week at Taiwanese-owned factory

AP, HANOI

Pou Yuen Vietnam employees gather for a negotiation with labor union officials at their factory during a strike in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Tuesday. Witnesses in the industrialized suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City said hundreds of workers massed peacefully inside and outside the factory owned by Pou Yuen Vietnam, a footwear maker for firms that include Nike and Adidas, and brands such as Lacoste, Converse and Reebok.

Photo: Reuters

Thousands of Vietnamese workers at a major footwear factory were on strike for a sixth day yesterday over a social insurance law in a rare challenge to government policy.

Several thousand people at the Taiwanese-owned Pou Yuen factory in Ho Chi Minh City began the stoppage on Thursday last week.

Pou Yuen Vietnam, which employs more than 80,000 workers, is a subsidiary of Pou Chen Group. As many as 90,000 of the workers went on strike last week, the online newspaper VnExpress reported.

It is unclear which shoemakers the facility supplies to. Workers said they make footwear for Nike and other companies, while Nike has denied sourcing from the factory affected.

The workers continued the peaceful strike in the factory’s compound yesterday under a heavy police presence. They marched along Highway 1 with banners and beating drums on Monday and Tuesday, blocking traffic on the main road artery.

They are protesting a new law, which is scheduled to take effect next year and says that workers will get a social insurance monthly allowance when they retire instead of getting a one-time payment if they resign. The striking workers said that if they quit earlier, they would have to wait until retirement age — 60 for men and 55 for women — to get the allowance, and they prefer the lump sum to pay for their daily needs while seeking new jobs.

Workers have also said they are concerned the money may not be there in the future.

“The workers want to raise their voices and speak out on this government policy,” Serena Liu (劉美德), chairwoman of the Council of Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, told Bloomberg by telephone. “They feel this is the only way they can do it. It’s not about working conditions.”

Pou Chen called on the Vietnamese government to provide assurances to workers on the social insurance issue, Pou Chen spokesman Amos Ho told Bloomberg by telephone.

The work stoppage, which began on Thursday last week, may cause some production delays, Ho said.

Vietnam is hit by several hundred labor strikes a year, but they are mostly over poor working condition and low pay. Protests over government policies are rare.

Vietnamese Vice Minister for Labor Doan Mau Diep on Tuesday met with the workers and said that his department would propose to allow them to choose whether to get one-time social insurance benefits when they quit or receive them upon retirement. His words were met with applause from the workers, according to state media reports, but if was not clear that he had persuaded them to stop the strike.

Vietnam General Confederation of Labor president Dang Ngoc Tung said in a statement on the trade union’s Web site that the strikers should return to work and authorities will address their concerns.

He also told them not to allow “bad elements” to take advantage of the situation to stir up unrest that would affect security, order and the company’s operations.

One third of Taiwanese youth hope to work in China: poll

2015/03/29 12:29:14

Taipei, March 29 (CNA) Nearly one third of Taiwanese aged under 40 are hoping to find a job in China due to potentially higher salaries and greater room for career development, a survey from cable television channel TVBS has found.

According to the survey conducted by the production team of the TVBS program "Understanding China," 34 percent of Taiwan's young men and women belonging to the 20-29 age bracket would choose to work in China rather than find a job in their home market, while the percentage for the 30-39 age bracket stands at 32 percent. It fell to 22 percent for the 40-49 age group.

As high as 56 percent of respondents aged 20-29 believed they would receive a relatively higher salary in China compared to Taiwan, while 53 percent thought they would see more opportunities in China for career development, the survey revealed.

Overall, in the 20-49 age bracket, more than half the respondents agreed that they would earn more and have more potential for career development if they obtained a job in China.

The survey, however, also pointed out that 56 percent of Taiwan's youth thought that their Chinese peers were more competitive than they are in China's employment market.

The telephone survey of Taiwanese people aged between 20-49 was carried out from March 24-25, with 819 valid samples. It had a confidence level of 95 percent, with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

(By Flor Wang)
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