Marking 10 years since the death of leukemia of Samsung worker Hwang Yu-mi, a group of activists staged a protest on Monday in front of Samsung headquarters in southern Seoul and urged the conglomerate to withdraw its plan to unilaterally decide on compensation for the families of former workers who had died of leukemia.
Banolim, an advocacy group for families of Samsung employees, demanded the nation’s largest conglomerate abide by the civil mediation process recommended by the court to compensate people who developed leukemia after working on its semiconductor lines.
During the protest, Banolim attempted to hand in a petition with more than 11,000 signatures calling for Samsung’s return to the negotiating table, but no Samsung officials showed up to open the gate.
Banolim activist and bereaved relatives, including Hwang’s father, have staged a sit-in since October 2015, in protest against Samsung’s “refusal to comply with the mediation process.”
The court in July 2015 recommended that Samsung set up a nonprofit foundation by donating 100 billion won ($86.6 million) and compensate all employees who worked for more than one year since 2011. Samsung Electronics did not accept the recommendation in August 2015 and instead started negotiating with families of victims not affiliated to Banolim.
The advocacy group said it planned to march along the streets in Gangnam, Seoul, starting 7 p.m. Monday, with its members clad in cleanroom garments.
Hwang passed away on this day in 2007 at the age of 23. She was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005, a year and a half after she started working on a Samsung Electronics semiconductor line. Other than Hwang, 78 more workers at the plant are thought to have developed incurable diseases such as leukemia.
By Son Ji-hyoung ()
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
