From May 22 until August 5, 2009, a core of 1000 worker militants at the Ssanyong Motor Company in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, occupied their plant and withstood a 77-day siege in a failed attempt to prevent mass layoffs. The employers used police, thugs and scabs in a quasi-military attack on the plant, which the workers repeatedly repelled with slingshots, crowbars and Molotov cocktails. The Ssangyong strike was the most militant worker action in South Korea in many years. Many workers from nearby factories joined the struggle and helped defend the plant. Even though the struggle ended in defeat, and was followed by major lawsuits and legal action against many strikers, the serious attempt at a class-wide strategy breaking out of the isolation of a single factory may spark other struggles to expand further.
From May 22 until August 5, 2009, a core of 1000 worker militants at the Ssanyong Motor Company in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, occupied their plant and withstood a 77-day siege in a failed attempt to prevent mass layoffs. The employers used police, thugs and scabs in a quasi-military attack on the plant, which the workers repeatedly repelled with slingshots, crowbars and Molotov cocktails. The Ssangyong strike was the most militant worker action in South Korea in many years. Many workers from nearby factories joined the struggle and helped defend the plant. Even though the struggle ended in defeat, and was followed by major lawsuits and legal action against many strikers, the serious attempt at a class-wide strategy breaking out of the isolation of a single factory may spark other struggles to expand further.
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