IMPACT has suspended the strike by 3,500 paramedics in the health services and will ballot them on a Labour Court award that gives them increases of 5.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent, or £2,000 to £3,000 a year.
The award is worth around £10 million and the estimated cost of the paramedics' original claim was about £12 million.
Last night the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, welcomed the suspension and thanked the Labour Court for its intervention.
While the court gave a significant increase to paramedics, it rejected their claim to pay parity with nurses, who received increases worth up to 14.5 per cent. It called on both sides to agree a code of conduct for future disputes. It also expressed concern at pay anomalies within the paramedic services and proposed setting up an expert group to report on changes in the professions concerned.
The ballot on settlement terms could take two to three weeks. This would give the union the time to explain the details of the Labour Court recommendation to its members.
An indication that the terms might be accepted is that the various vocational groups within IMPACT which have been running the strike locally are understood to have recommended suspension to the executive to allow the ballot to take place.
The IMPACT general secretary, Mr Peter McLoone, said last night the union had almost achieved its pay objectives. It was a difficult decision, but the margin between what the union had sought and the award did not justify continuing industrial action.
The difference between the pay rise sought for a physiotherapist, for instance, and the Labour Court award was only £350 a year.
While the award fails to acknowledge the link with the nurses, it puts most paramedic grades above staff nurses in terms of salary. Staff nurses can earn up to £21,000 under their Labour Court award, while physiotherapists at the top of the scale have seen their salaries increase from £19,502 to £21,980.
The suspension of the strike should end the crisis which arose within the childcare service and allow other affected services to return to normal. If the recommendation is accepted it should also clear the way to resolve the pending dispute by 2,000 laboratory technicians and radiographers.
But in a finely crafted recommendation, the Labour Court has given no comfort to other grades linked with nurses. It says the local bargaining clause of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work "of necessity" must consider changes within different public service grades.
IMPACT members at the bottom of each salary scale will receive 5.5 per cent increases. Those with longer service will receive increases on a sliding scale up to 10.5 per cent over six to 10 years, depending on the grade involved. An additional 2 per cent will be awarded to paramedics who have spent three or more years on the scale maximum.
The recommendation also provides for additional productivity and flexibility.