THE International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) warned yesterday that poor employment rights and working conditions lay at the root of Samsung’s problems with its exploding new smartphone.

That message coincided with hundreds of South Korean Galaxy Note 7 owners filing a lawsuit against the electronics giant over its handling of the fire-prone device.

Barrister Peter Young Yeel Ko, head of the Harvest law firm, said the 527 plaintiffs want Samsung to compensate them for the costs incurred in visiting shops to exchange their phones, for the hours they had to wait while transferring data and for the psychological harm caused by using a hazardous product.