Against Gigantic Capital; the Experience of Occupational Diseases and Struggle for Dignity of Samsung Electronic Workers in Korea

1. APNEC-10
November 2011
Against Gigantic Capital;
the Experience of Occupational Diseases and
Struggle for Dignity
of Samsung Electronic Workers in Korea
Jeong-Ok Kong
 Korea Institute of Labor Safety and Health(KILSH)
 Supporters for Health And Rights of People in
Semiconductor Industry(SHARPs)

2. Contents
 Background
 Production of Electronics in aspects of OHS
 Electronics Industry in Korea
 Samsung Electronics
 Occupational Diseases in Samsung
 The First Voice & Resonance
 “The Girl of Semiconductor”
 What the Victims Witness
 Responses of Samsung & Govn.
 Distorted Truth, and Deceived Dignity
 Building Wide Network of Solidarity
 Historical Victory & Remained Problems

3. Background

4. Production of Electronics in aspects of OHS
www.sony.net
http://www.ventureoutsource.com/files/u1/Electronics-Supply-Chain-lr.gif

5. Production of Electronics in aspects of OHS
 Chemical-intensive production with rapid change
 Limitation of Science
 High flexibility with predominance of female +
Historical anti-union policy + Culture of patriarchy
 Limitation of Workers‟ empowerment
 Global supply chain with mass production in the
developing countries
 Limitation of Society

6. Electronics Industry in Korea
 7,691 companies(2009) and 494,666 fulltime
workers(2007) in IT Device industry
Communication Device 120,299
Information Device 40,590
Broadcasting Device 42,155
Components 291,622
IT Device Total 494,666
http://www.itstat.go.kr
http://www.index.go.kr
 Global Market Share
 13.5% in semiconductor (3rd), 59.0% in DRAM (1st)
 45.6% in Display (1st)

7. Samsung Electronics
 The Samsung Group
 the richest conglomerate of South Korea,
 Net sales = 172.5 billion$, Net income =13.8
billion$ (2010)
 Employees = 275,000
 Electronics is the major business of Samsung
 Employees in Korea = 173,965
 Global network at 193 sites including 39 production sites
 16.1% of total exports of Korea
 the 1st or 2nd in the global market of semiconductor, flat
panel TVs, and mobile phone

8. Occupational Diseases in Samsung

9. The First Voice & Resonance

10. “The Girl of Semiconductor”

11. What the Victims Witness
 Leukemia in two female in Diffusion process

12. What the Victims Witness
 Team of Four Engineers in Diffusion process
 Leukemia
 Malignant melanoma
 Granulomatosis
 Operators in Burn-in Test process
 Aplastic anemia
 Brain cancer
 Leukemia

13. What the Victims Witness

14. What the Victims Witness
Samsung Electronics Total
Semiconductor LCD Mobile etc. Subtotal
phone
No.of Victims Total 79 16 3 9 107 149
Cancer 63 10 2 6 81 114
Total 27 7 2 5 41 59
No.of Deaths
Cancer 23 6 1 5 35 53

15. Responses of Samsung & Govn.

16. Distorted Truth, and Deceived Dignity
 NHL(Non-Hodgkin‟s lymphoma)
 Female* SMR 2.06, SPR 2.67
 Female(FAB)* SMR 2.66, SPR 5.16
 Male SMR 0.62, SPR 0.77
 Leukemia
 Female SMR 1.48, SPR 1.31
 Male SMR 0.36, SPR 0.87
 „Red signal‟ about brain cancer.
 SMR of all causes Male 0.53, Female 0.66
 SPR of all cancers Male 0.86, Female 0.97
 SPR of brain cancers Male 1.36, Female 1.28

17. Distorted Truth, and Deceived Dignity
 KOSHA said “Risk of Leukemia was not statistically
significantly elevated in semiconductor workers”.
 “Scientific study revealed that there is no relationship
between leukemia and Samsung semiconductor”
(Apr.2010, Samsung)

18. Building Wide Network of Solidarity
 Victims & OHS NGOs, Labor unions, and
progressive parties
 Professionals in Public health, OEM, and Lawyers
 Voluntary activities in many local cities
 Progressive church people
 Artists
 Politicians
 International network

19. Historical Victory &
Remained Problems

20. Historical Victory
 The 1st Legal Recognition of Occup. Dz in Semiconductor
 Jun 2007, Hwang Yumi, demand
workers„ compensation(KCOMWEL)
 Apr 2008, +Five other leukemia workers
 May 2009, KCOMWEL's Decision not to compensate
 Jan 2010, Lawsuit
 Jun 2011, Court Decision
"Despite the fact that the case of deceased Hwang Yumi
and Lee Suk Young didn't reveal a clear medical etiology
on the onset of leukemia, the continual exposure to the
chemical hazard is assumed to have brought the onset of
the disease, or at least, promoted it…”

21. Remained Problems
 Jul 2011, KCOMWEL appealed to the High Court against
Two workers
 18 out of 21 workers demanding compensation were
refused, 3 are waiting the decisions
 “Reference of Defendant” = Samsung
 The Right and Dignity of Occup. Victims?

22. Remained Problems
 Renewal of OHS legislative system
 Burden of proof, Benefit of doubt
 Precautionary principle
 The right to know & Trade secret
 Distorted Science
 No evidence of association ≠ evidence of No association
 Internalization of cost & Corporate responsibility
 Substantial solidarity in the Int‟l network, mainly in
Asia

23. Thank You!