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By Kwack Jung-soo, business correspondent

Samsung made overtures for dialogue to resolve the issue of workers contracting leukemia and other diseases after working at its semiconductor plants.

Victims’ families and the watchdog group Banollim agreed to the terms and are currently weighing their response.

This is the first dialogue between the company and victims’ family members after a tense standoff over responsibility and compensation for the illnesses, a process that has dragged out for five years since the leukemia cases first became known to the public in 2007. Now, late October looks to be a watershed in the issue’s resolution, with Nov. 1 set as the date for final arguments in an appeals trial by leukemia-stricken former workers demanding that their condition be recognized as an industrial accident.

A senior Samsung official said on Oct. 16 that the victims’ family members received a proposal for resolving the compensation issue through dialogue. “We intend to address the leukemia issue in an active and forward-thinking way through dialogue,” the official said.

To accomplish this, Samsung is considering plans to halt its participation as an assistant to the defense in the family members’ current appeals trial against the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service (COMWEL) and expanding the list of compensation recipients to include not just the parties to the suit, but all other victims as well.

It also declared plans to consider answering family members’ demands for an apology, an investigation, and steps to prevent similar cases in the future. “We hope that this dialogue can lead to the dropping of the lawsuit and a resolution through conciliation procedures,” a senior Samsung figure said.

In addition to its willingness to engage in dialogue, the company is also showing a forward-thinking approach on key areas of contention such as compensation, a chairman’s apology, an investigation, and preventive measures.

Kim Joon-sik, Samsung Electronics executive vice-president in charge of public relations, said the company could compensate “all cancer patients who meet conditions that are acceptable to society.”

Kim added that the recipients of compensation and the nature of support could be discussed with the family members, indicating that the company would not insist on applying the independent support standards for cancer patients that it developed last year.

Commissioning an independent, credible third-party organization to investigate the cause of the leukemia cases is being discussed as an option.

The company is also considering an initial chairman’s apology on ethical grounds, followed by an additional apology if warranted by the investigation findings.

For preventative monitoring, Kim mentioned the possibility of regular inspections by the government or another reliable organization.

Analysts said Samsung’s change of heart was likely based on the decision that it could not carry on without resolving the increasingly controversial leukemia issue unless it was willing to forgo its semiconductor area.

Another factor was the fear of acquiring a reputation as an unhealthy workplace. Seoul Administrative Court ruled in June 2011 to recognize the leukemia cases that took the lives of former semiconductor plant workers Hwang Yu-mi and Lee Suk-yeong as industrial accidents. A similar verdict in the ongoing appeals trial could leave the company branded as “leukemia central.”

Also playing a part was the ongoing discussion of ‘economic democracy’ in the leadup to December’s presidential election. Chairman Lee Kun-hee reportedly directed the company to “resolve things without a lot of noise.” The National Assembly Environment & Labor Committee summoned vice president Choi Woo-soo as a witness for a parliamentary audit on COMWEL, Oct. 18.

But the fate of the proposal remains uncertain, with family members and semiconductor worker human rights group Banollim saying Samsung’s ideas fell short of their expectations.

Lee Jong-ran, a labor attorney for Banollim, noted that no formal statement of Samsung’s proposal had been received. “If the idea is to throw money at the leukemia issue right before an appeals court ruling after leaving it unaddressed for five years, then dialogue is meaningless,” she said.

Banollim are refusing the company’s compensation standard of “meeting conditions that are acceptable to society,” and demanding compensation for all victims.

The labor community is also demanding permission to establish a union for preventive monitoring.

Meanwhile, some observers suggested Samsung’s belated and hastily organized effort, coming on the eve of an appeals ruling, was an attempt to buy time until after the presidential election.

At an Oct. 14 meeting, family members and Banollim representatives decided to agree to Samsung’s dialogue offer while going ahead with the appeals trial. The plans were communicated to Samsung via a legal representative.

A representative of the family members said a decision was made to explore the dialogue option prior to final arguments on Nov. 1.

“Whether or not to drop the lawsuit is a matter to be considered once there have been results from the dialogue,” the representative added.

Kim Joon-sik said Samsung plans to go ahead with dialogue with victims’ family members regardless of whether they drop the suit.

The current trial came after COMWEL appealed Seoul Administrative Court’s June 2011 ruling that Hwang and Lee’s leukemia cases were industrial accidents. Over 140 people to date have contracted the disease after working at the Samsung semiconductor factory. Fifty-seven have since passed away.

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