Ssangyong Motors' Union Strike - Korea
2 videos • 62 views • by withDefiance An 18-minute documentary on Ssangyong Motors factory occupation (with English subtitles), produced by militant railroad workers from Doro Chiba in Japan. They had an evening with updates on imprisoned strikers and the conditions for workers in South Korea, along with open discussion that followed the film. The Ssangyong strike and factory occupation in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, ended on August 5, 2009, having lasted 77 days. It began when 1700 workers seized the small auto plant on on May 22. Yet 976 workers were able to successfully defend it to the end -- against repeated military assaults by riot cops, company-hired goons, and scabs. The settlement, signed by Ssangyong court receivership management and the Korean Metal Workers' Union local president, was a negotiated defeat for the workers; the surrender of the factory was followed by felony charges and heavy sentences against occupiers, as well a massive lawsuit against the KMWU. Despite this, the workers fought valiantly and uncompromisingly for over 2 months, demonstrating a militancy and class consciousness sorely lacking in the world today. Like the 6-day occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago last December, or the 3 Visteon factory occupations in the British Isles, the Ssangyong struggle is an inspiration to workers everywhere -- especially as the current crisis has been used as a pretext to further attack the working class. It's about time we turned the class war back on its feet; the Ssangyong struggle offers many lessons for fighting back.