The Japanese government and 22 former workers at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, failed to agree Monday on a court-recommended settlement of a damages suit filed by the ex-workers, who claim they developed lung disease due to poor health safety measures.
The former workers said they decided not to sign the pact recommended by the Yokosuka branch of the Yokohama District Court after the government proposed reducing the amount of compensation for some of them from the amount recommended by the court in March.
Presiding Judge Teruo Yanagisawa urged the government to reconsider its proposal by June 28. The plaintiffs, for their part, said they have no intention of negotiating on the court-recommended settlement, and if the government does not accept it, they will terminate the talks and ask for a court ruling.
On March 2, the judge recommended that the state, as the plaintiffs' one-time employer, pay about 300 million yen to the former workers, who were demanding a combined 489.5 million yen, saying it failed in its responsibility to prevent pneumoconiosis, a lung disease caused by chronic inhalation of mineral dusts, as well as silica and asbestos.
Under the recommended settlement, the court said the state should pay about 14 million yen each to 20 of the 22 plaintiffs. It said 25 million yen should be paid on behalf of one person who died, while the statute of limitations expired on the remaining plaintiff, who agreed to withdraw from the suit.
The former workers said the government told them it will accept the recommended settlement for 18 of the plaintiffs but proposed a reduction in compensation of 700,000 yen to 3.5 million yen for the other three.
The former workers decided to postpone signing the settlement and have demanded that another round of talks be held in the future, they said.