We study a free boundary value problem modelling the motion of a piston in a viscous compressible fluid. The fluid is modelled by 1D compressible Navier-Stokes equations with possibly degenerate viscosity coefficient, and the motion of the piston is described by Newton's second law. We show that the initial boundary value problem has a unique global in time solution, and we also determine the large time behaviour of the system. Finally, we show how our methodology may be adapted to the motion of several pistons.