By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics said Monday that it will spend up to 100 billion won to create a foundation for factory workers who were employed at its local partners and developed incurable diseases at its chip and display plants.
“Samsung Electronics has decided to establish a company foundation with 100 billion won to compensate those who’ve suffered from industrial diseases and to improve working conditions at its manufacturing facilities,” the company said in a statement.
Samsung said the foundation will be run by the company, opposing earlier recommendations by a three-member mediation committee in which it asked Samsung to set up an independent foundation with experts and activists.
“By creating the fund, it’s possible to compensate those affected as quickly as possible as there’s no need to spend more time to create a legal entity to handle the issue,” said the statement.
Workers who worked at its semiconductor and display facilities for more than a year before Jan. 1, 2011, or retired after 1996 will be eligible to file for compensation, it said.
Samsung said it will also compensate workers who’ve developed 11 rare types of disease; however, it said it will talk with experts on whether to compensate those who need to be checked for a relation between the disease and working conditions.
The statement said it will team up with outside experts for the operation of a new team to check on the health of its workers, and deliver a public apology on the issue.
“Faster execution is strongly needed. Samsung will respect the views of families of the victims,” the statement said.
The announcement comes ten days after the mediation body released its proposals for a complete resolution of the issue.
The mediation committee, led by former Justice Kim Ji-hyung, earlier asked Samsung to spend 100 billion won in establishing an independent foundation and to open its plants for a thorough inspection if necessary.
The two counterparties in the issue ― local advocacy group Banolim and the Samsung Occupational Disease Family Committee ― will announce their positions on the statement soon.