In the past two months, South Korean auto workers have been fighting against massive layoffs announced by Ssangyong Motor Co., the fifth largest South Korean carmaker.
Hundreds of workers at the Pyeongtaek factory have been occupying the facility for more than two months to protest a major restructuring plan that calls for cutting 2,646 workers, or 36 percent of the workforce.
The Korean auto workers’ union is currently at the negotiating table with management, calling for no layoffs. The automaker is threatening to take steps toward bankruptcy unless the union leadership accepts a compromise offer on layoffs.
Police have tried to break up the factory takeover by attempting to kick out and arrest the courageous workers.
The ruling class will search out every avenue to make the workers pay for the deepening economic slowdown. As production grinds to a halt as a result of the boom and bust capitalist system, they will seek to cut costs by shuttering factories, closing stores and laying off workers.
