Workers at toxic plant win $23.7m in damages

Taiwan’s High Court awarded workers and their families’ 23.7 million dollars (718.4 million Taiwan dollars) in damages on Friday after a U.S. electronics company dumped cancer-causing chemical solvents at a plant in Taiwan.

The verdict can be appealed, the court said.

The case has been described as the worst ever work-related health incident in Taiwan.

RCA Corp. ran a factory in Taoyuan in north-western Taiwan from the late 1960s to 1992, during which time it discharged the untreated solvents into secret wells, which polluted the groundwater.

The plant was shut down in 1992, seven years after RCA’s takeover by U.S.-based General Electric.

In 1988, GE sold RCA’s electronics business to the French firm Thomson Consumer Electronics.

The factory was declared a toxic site, and GE and Thomson spent millions of dollars cleaning it up.

In April 2015, a court ruled that the owners of RCA must pay 560 million Taiwan dollars in damages to 445 Taiwanese workers and their families.

On Friday, the jury ruled that the defendants now have to compensate 486 plaintiffs.

Outside the court, more than 100 affected workers and their families had gathered to hear the ruling.

According to a self-help group for RCA employees, 216 people, who worked at the plant, have died of liver and lung cancer since the 1990s.

“We’ve seen positive feedback from the jury in today’s verdict.

“However, the compensation remains low,” Joseph Lin, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said.

The workers’ families had sought 2.7 billion Taiwan dollars in damages.(dpa/NAN)