S.Korea's 76-day battling strike ends

SEOUL: Workers at Ssangyong Motor Co yesterday ended two and a half months of increasingly violent protests and agreed to big layoffs at South Korea's smallest carmaker, for months on the edge of bankruptcy.

Its struggles, which analysts say are still far from over, have been seen as a test of the conservative government's willingness to let a major employer go under in the current economic downturn and to stand up to powerful labor unions.

The aggressive tactics of the unions, a number of analysts say, have deterred both local and foreign investors.