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Article

1 Oct 2007

Author:
Teng Sue-feng and Phil Newell, Taiwan Panorama

The Cancer Factory: RCA Workers Battle for Justice

1969: RCA builds a plant in Taiwan.
1970: The RCA Taoyuan plant goes into operation, making electronic parts for televisions. At its peak, the plant employs over 18,000 people.
1986: The Taoyuan plant is acquired by GE, another US firm.
1988: The Taoyuan plant is acquired by Thomson, a French firm.
1992: Thomson discovers that the groundwater at the plant site has been contaminated by pollutants and closes the factory. Taiwan's Ever Fortune Group buys the land and prepares to develop a shopping center.
1994: Legislator Jaw Shau-kong reveals the pollution at the RCA plant; the EPA creates a task force to investigate.
1997: The government orders GE and Thomson to deal with the groundwater pollution.
1998: GE and Thomson issue a report declaring the impossibility of cleaning up the groundwater. Ever Fortune files a lawsuit in the US, claiming Thomson concealed knowledge of the pollution.
1998: The RCA Mutual Aid Association petitions the Control Yuan for an investigation. Victimized workers appear in person to charge that their working environment caused their illnesses. The Executive Yuan sets up an interdepartmental taskforce to coordinate research and financial support...
2002: A team of attorneys, working pro bono, is formed to help RCA workers. A civil suit is filed, but it is discovered that most RCA Taiwan assets have been extracted from Taiwan….
2006: The LAF takes the case.
2007: Thomson is added as a co-defendant, and the legal process continues.

Timeline

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