Participants shake hands at the end of the signing marking an agreement between Samsung Electronics and the families of victims who contracted leukemia while working for the company, in Seoul’s Seodaemun district, January 12.
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The company reportedly signed the agreement with two groups representing the ill workers and their families with the basic idea being that the inspection committee should be able to help prevent further maladies by reporting on and helping to improve the conditions within Samsung’s factories.
The ombudsman committee, which will operate for up to six years, will conduct a sweeping review of the working environment at Samsung Electronics and its approach to managing the health of its workers, provide the company with recommendations based on this review and assess the company’s implementation of those recommendations.
Samsung has in the past denied links between diseases reported by the victims, which include leukaemia and brain tumours, and chemicals used in its plants. If any hazardous substances are detected during random checks, the company’s health management team will order their use stopped, according to the agreement.
Baek Suhyeon, Samsung’s top negotiator, said the agreement was “meaningful”. The group vowed to continue its protests and urged Samsung to resume talks on compensation.
The agreement, which is not legally binding, is the first of its kind between Samsung and Banolim since the death of 22-year-old chip worker Hwang Yu-mi from leukemia in 2007 ignited public debate about safety at Samsung factories and South Korea’s semiconductor industry in general.
Last year, Samsung rejected the mediator’s recommendations that an independent organization oversee compensation.
‘In the big picture, it is correct to say everything has now been settled, ‘ a Samsung official told AFP.
Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Seoul, said: “The families accepted Samsung’s apology, which did not take responsibility for the diseases in question but did apologise for the kind of suffering they’ve been through”.
The company promised that it would set up a fund worth 100 billion won ($82.6 million) for compensation and research of work-related diseases previous year. But after so many cases in South Korean courts the company said that it is committed to compensating workers and their families.
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“Samsung claims that it drew up a compensation plan, about 150 victims applied for compensation and roughly 130 have actually received compensation”.
