The State's largest teaching union, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, has this evening voted in favour of the Croke Park deal on public sector pay and reform.
The union, which has 32,000 members, voted in favour of the agreement by a margin of 65 per cent to 35 per cent. A total of 13,655 voted to accept the deal, while 7,273 voted against it.
Earlier, members of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) said they could not support the deal.
The two unions - which have a combined membership of over 32,000 - both voiced concerns about the renegotiation of contracts.
Impact's outgoing general secretary Peter McLoone, one of the negotiators of the deal, welcomed the INTO response and said he expected the majority of public service workers would back the deal.
Mr McLoone said nobody was "turning cartwheels" about the proposed agreement but that he felt it was the best available at this moment in time and would secure the jobs, pay and pensions of public servants.
TUI members voted by a three-to-one margin against the plan. A total of 10,082 valid votes were cast in the ballot with just 2,528 in favour of the proposed agreement and 7,554 against.
The TUI's executive committee and congress had previously urged its members to reject the deal
In a statement issued today the TUI said the principal reason for the rejection of the deal was the open-ended demand for renegotiation of contracts of both second level teachers and third level lecturers together with a call for an additional hour to be worked by staff.
Separately, ASTI members voted to reject the plan by 62 per cent to 38 per cent.
"Clearly the ballot results of the second-level teacher unions indicate that a one-size fits all agreement is not appropriate for second level," said ASTI general secretary John White in a statement.
"ASTI members rejected this agreement because they do not wish to have a review of their contracts. In the context of significant pay cuts and a pension levy, members do not accept a review of their contracts which would lead to further impositions upon them," he added.
The union's standing committee welcomed the decision by members to reject the agreement.
Under the proposed deal the Government has given a commitment that there will be no further cuts in public sector pay until 2014 at least.
The unions have agreed to implement extensive reforms in work practices and conditions of employment throughout the entire public service. The deal does not contain specific guarantees on reversing pay cuts that were put in place in the budget last December.
However, there will be a review of public sector pay in spring of next year and in each subsequent year. These will take account of "sustainable" savings generated as a result of the implementation of the reform programme, and determine whether there is any scope for the reimbursement of pay cuts.
INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan welcomed the result saying the agreement provided a measure of protection for workers and their families at a time of great economic difficulty. The union was one of the first to recommend acceptance of the deal.
“The agreement gives some certainty on pay and jobs despite clear warnings of further substantial cuts to public spending,” Ms Nunan said.
Lower-paid public servants with the Civil Public and Services Union have already refused to back the deal, while the Public Service Executive Union and the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants, representing mid and high-ranking employees, have voted to support it.
Results of ballots by members of Siptu, Impact, Unite and a number of other smaller unions are expected before June 15th.