Management and labor from Ssangyong Motor have come one step closer to resolving a labor dispute that has continued for six years.
  
In a tentative agreement reached on Friday, the automaker promised to gradually re-hire laid-off workers by 2017, withdraw four-point-seven billion worth of compensation suits against union members, create a fund to support laid-off employees, and work to normalize operations.
 
The agreement was reached among Ssangyong Motor President Choi Johng-sik, Kim Deuk-jung, head of the Ssangyong Motor branch of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the carmaker’s labor union leader Hong Bong-seok.
  
KCTU’s Ssangyong Motor branch approved the agreement in a general meeting on Saturday. The company plans to approve the agreement at a board of directors meeting while the Ssangyong Motor Labor Union will hold a vote at a conference of delegates.