Contact: Jay Mendoza, Health and Environmental Justice Project 408-287-6707
or
Irene Lin (201-926-7729) Taiwan Environmental Action Network
Press Conference Thursday, May 23, 2002 10:30 AM
760 N. First Street, San Jose CA
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RCA's Poison Trail Brings Taiwanese High Tech Workers to Silicon Valley: Delegation calls for US Congressional hearings to stop the toxic legacy of globalization

(San Jose, CA)-- High-tech workers who worked at the RCA plant in Taiwan are visiting 5 cities in the United States to urge others to support their call for Congressional hearings about RCA's responsibility for contaminating drinking water and exposing workers to deadly chemicals. Former workers from the plant were found to have a high incidence of various forms of cancers. Around 1,000 workers were diagnosed with cancer and about one-fifth have already died. This may be one of the world's most contaminated sites. Two events are planned in the Bay Area, see details below.

Representatives of the Self-Help Association of Former RCA Employees and the Taiwan Association of Victims of Occupational Injuries (TAVOI) are launching their US tour in Silicon Valley, the birth place of the global electronics industry, to focus attention on the human health costs of the electronics revolution. The Association was founded in 1998 to organize a campaign for justice for the former workers who developed cancer after working with chemicals at the RCA factory.

"RCA was one of the first US companies to establish electronics manufacturing in Taiwan more than 30 years ago. They then shut down their plant and moved away without taking responsibility for their actions, leaving a legacy of serious pollution and a huge cancer cluster," said SVTC Executive Director Ted Smith. "This is one of the most serious contamination sites and one of the worst cases of global corporate irresponsibility that has been uncovered around the world."

For over twenty years, the US-based RCA poured toxic wastewater into a well in its Taoyuan, Taiwan facility and workers and the neighboring community drank this water. The groundwater is contaminated by trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The workers believe that drinking the contaminated water and their exposure to chemicals while working at the RCA factory is the reason behind hundreds of cancer deaths and acute illness suffered by former RCA employees.

"The story of the RCA workers in Taiwan is very similar to our own story of the Fairchild plant in San Jose", said Smith. "SVTC has advocated for corporate responsibility for environmental and health and safety of the high-tech industry since the Fairchild spill was discovered more than 20 years ago. That contamination poisoned a local drinking water source in a south San Jose neighborhood. Another high-tech giant, IBM has poisoned hundreds of its own workers."

"We visited Taiwan last year, saw the old abandoned RCA facility and had an opportunity to meet some of the workers", said Leslie Byster, SVTC Communications Director. "At that time, we talked about them coming to the United States to bring attention to the issue here. RCA has done a terrible a thing and refuses to acknowledge their responsibility."

Irene Lin, of the Taiwan Environmental Action Network said, "The workers and organizers of TAVOI have come to the United States to alarm people about the toxic pollution created by RCA in Taiwan. They are visiting several where they will meet with environmental groups, labor unions and government representatives to win justice for their members and bring accountability to RCA. The call for Congressional hearings will put pressure on the United States government to use its authority to encourage RCA to make a proper resolution of this issue."

"The RCA case maybe one of the largest cases of worker poisoning in the history of high-tech development," said Johannes Ignacio, Executive Director of the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and Health. "Many cancers among high-tech workers are starting to appear now. We applaud their courage in following the poison trail back to the heart of the high-tech industry in the United States and demanding that the company that poisoned them, admit their mis-deeds and take appropriate action."

Women workers of Silicon Valley affiliated with the Working Women's Leadership Project (WE LeaP!) of the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and Health (SCCOSH) will be meeting with the Taiwanese workers. The two groups will exchange work/life stories and issues connected with the semiconductor industry. WE LeaP! has a petition to the Semiconductor Industry Association demanding long-term medical surveillance of industry workers.

"The poisoning is still happening today," said Raquel Sancho, Program Director for SCCOSH and the WeLeap Program. "We are seeing this in the cancers among workers at IBM and National Semiconductor. The manufacturing of electronics requires the use of highly toxic chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic. It is critical that workers get a opportunity to speak out and link with other injured workers."

"The United States should take responsibility in assuring that US corporations follow decent and protective health and safety standards, where ever they do business", said Jay Mendoza, Director of SVTC's Health and Environmental Justice Project. "RCA continues to refuse to accept responsibility for its actions. This kind of corporate behavior would not be tolerated here in the US and it shouldn't be allowed to happen in other countries. We think the US government needs to take the lead in assuring that US companies are accountable in their behavior."

"We want to inform people in America know about this case. We need to get support from the American people in order to get justice from RCA," said Yu-Ling Ku, an organizer with TAVOI.

Mr. Wu, a member of the Self-Help Group, who videotaped hearings and the stories of the RCA workers in Taiwan, said "I am bringing these tapes to show the American people the reality of the RCA experience in Taiwan. We are writing in the history of how workers struggle against big corporations and fight to receive justice for the harm they received."

Other events in the Bay Area include: