Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s biggest automaker, announced Monday a plan to hire 6,000 temporary subcontractor workers as permanent employees by 2017, in a bid to end controversy over the company’s labor practices.

After agreeing to promote 4,000 subcontractor workers to regular positions last year, the company management and the heads of the related labor unions agreed to hire 2,000 more by 2017. 

Moreover, starting from 2018, Hyundai Motor will “regularly hire subcontractor workers as official employees when there are openings, effectively promoting all of the temporary workers in question to regular positions,” a company official said.

“In particular, the temporary workers will be hired not under a special system but under the existing employment system. We hope that this deal will serve as a model for other companies facing similar issues,” he said.

The new recruiting agreement is reportedly a part of Hyundai Motor’s stated plan to hire 36,000 new young workers over the next three years in a bid to revive the nation’s sluggish economy and job market.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)