Raids on the Ssangyong plant have begun

Photo courtesy of the JoongAng Daily

Starting Monday, the Korean Police have begin to crack down on the Ssangyong occupation. Workers have fought back by setting up fiery barricades consisting of tires and vehicles and pelting riot police and scabs with slingshots. Two helicopters have begin firing tear gas into the plant. No serious injuries have been reported yet; police and management have been weary of using more confrontational methods in fear of destroying valuable machines and possibly causing another Yongsan type incident. So far there has been a mix of information of how large the police force is being used, with Al Jazeera, the KCTU and JoongAng Daily stating around 3,000 and the Chosun Ilbo stating around 1000.

So far, there have been 2 suicides in relation to the strike. One worker after trying to apply for early retirement and on Monday, a 28 year old wife of one of the striking workers.

After news came in that police had started to advance into the compound, another news came in that wife of KMWU Ssangyong Motors Branch policy director had committed suicide. She was the 28-year old mother of a baby just 8 months old and a four-year old, and was suffering stress and anxiety from receiving subpoenas and warrant for her husband’s arrest. Recently, company managers were known to have made visits to workers’ homes, where only wives and children are present, and threatened family members with imprisonment of their spouses and confiscation of their homes and assets to pay the company back damages claims for the strike. As the union warned several times, and as reality manifests, “dismissals are, in fact, murder”. The death of the unionist’s wife is, in fact, homicide committed by the management and government.

The Korean Metal Workers Union is not the only union in Korea fighting for its life right now; the National Union of Media Workers (NUMW) have begun a general strike against the Grand National Party's attempt to railroad their media "reform" bills that will allow private ownership of news channels. More on that later, until then, read this wonderful article by the JoongAng Daily (Who would reap the benefits of the new bills) on why this "illegal strike" is a bad idea. Meanwhile I will go off and read an article by the Wall Street Journal on why Hugo Chavez is the devil.