Court Orders New Compensation in Long-Running RCA Toxic Chemicals Case

TaiwanPlus News

A court has ordered US$5 million compensation for over 200 former workers of a Radio Corporation of American (RCA) plant in Taiwan who were exposed to toxic chemicals. It's a fresh victory for the plaintiffs but nowhere close to the amount they'd asked for, meaning an appeal is possible.

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00:00Compensation is on the way for workers who say they've suffered from exposure to toxic

00:05chemicals between the 1970s and early 90s.

00:08A new high court ruling awards more than five million U.S. dollars to the remaining 200-odd

00:13employees of the former Taoyuan plant of the now-defunct Radio Corporation of America.

00:19But this doesn't look like the end of a class-action lawsuit that's been smoldering away for 20

00:24years.

00:25The FDA was a major electronics maker which chose Taiwan as a production site at a time

00:30of low wages and loose regulations.

00:33It was only after the company left Taiwan that the public became aware of the scale

00:37of the toxic pollution it left behind.

00:40Former workers say years of handling chemicals inside the plant has left them with cancer

00:44and other ailments, and that chemicals are also to blame for the early deaths of dozens

00:49of colleagues.

00:50The new court ruling is the latest in a series

01:10of wins the workers have had since 2015, but it isn't a total victory.

01:15The court says the 222 plaintiffs had not suffered obvious damage to their health,

01:20just to their right of what it calls their physical integrity.

01:24The payout is also far less than the 33 million U.S. dollars the plaintiffs sought, something

01:29that has proven hard to swallow.

01:49And so, workers' lawyers say, the fight may continue.

02:16Andy Xue and John Ventriest for Taiwan Plus.

02:19Taiwan Plus.

02:20Taiwan Plus.

02:21Taiwan Plus.

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