職災毒物集體訴訟的漫漫長路――以RCA案為例

Slow Justice in a Class Action Suit for Occupational Injury: The RCA Case

美國無線電公司（簡稱RCA公司）自1970年起在台灣設廠，生產電子及家電產品。但在營運期間，該公司違法使用多種對人體有危害的化學物質，導致員工於參與生產過程中接觸、吸入或食入這些物質，進而導致死亡、罹患癌症或其他重大疾病、流產或其他身體健康的傷害。受害的勞工組織自救會抗爭，並在2004年提起職災集體訴訟，向RCA公司請求損害賠償。本文分享承辦RCA集體訴訟案件的經驗，說明法律實務工作者（特別是律師）在此類案件中可能會碰到的困難，希望能提供承辦此類案件的實務工作者參考。 The Radio Cooperation of America (RCA) set up several factories in Taiwan producing electronic products and electrical home appliances in the 1970s. Some years later, people found that the company illegally used various harmful chemicals. Employees died or were diagnosed with cancer or other serious diseases, had miscarriages or suffered because they had touched, breathed in or eaten contaminated material. The victims organized a protest and then filed a class action lawsuit against the RCA and asked for compensation in 2004. This note presents my experience of participation in the lawsuit and illustrates the difficulties participants, especially lawyers, met. The author hopes that this note may be useful to lawyers and others who engage in such cases.