On this day in Labor History the year was 1979.
That was the day that young women workers at the YH Trading Company in Seoul, South Korea staged a sit-in.
The women made wigs for export.
The company had been one of the leading exporters in the nation.
But then the managers began to move the profits from the wig company to a shipping company under the same ownership, as well as to a film production company.
This drained the profits from the wig factory and left it in debt.
The owner shut down the company without warning, firing all of the employees.
These women did not only lose their jobs.
Water and electricity were turned off at the factory dormitories where they lived.
A union represented the young women.
The union planned a strike at the building, but the police were called in to break it up.
The workers decided move their protest to the local headquarters of the New Democratic Party.
The party was in opposition to the leader of Seoul, President Park Chung Hee.
The fired women were welcomed at the New Democratic Party office.
There they decided to stage a sit-in to bring attention to their situation.
The worker’s sit-in only lasted three days.
Then 1,000 police stormed the building.
They overturned furniture and broke windows.
They dragged the women out of the building violently.
One woman, 21-year old Kim Kyong-sook died in the raid
She fell from the roof of the building in a clash with the police.
Four of the union leaders were sent to prison.
More than two hundred of the workers were expelled out of Seoul, back home to rural areas.
December 29 - The Day Work Was Made Safer
December 28 - Heroes in Space
December 27 - Musicians Fight Back
December 26 - Garment Workers Rise Up
December 25 - Debs Released; Real Gift is His Message
December 24 - A Christmas Eve Beating for Striking Workers
December 23 - The High Cost of Low Wages
December 21 - Red Scare Deportations Begin
December 20 - THE UNION IS DISSOLVED!!!
December 19 - Solidarity Gets the Goods!
December 18 - No More Beer
December 17 - Unraveling Anti-Japanese Hysteria
December 16 - No Justice, No Bagels!
December 15 - Troops Put Down the Mother’s March
December 14 - Another Hard Fought Victory
December 13 - The Beginning of the End of Apartheid
December 12 - We Disaffiliate!
December 11 - Right to Work is a Lie!
December 10 - August Spies is Born
December 9 - The Cordiner Doctrine
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