A national pay deal giving most workers a 5.5 per cent pay increase over 18 months is likely to be ratified by trade unions tomorrow, following SIPTU's decision to support it.
The country's biggest union announced yesterday that members had voted by a margin of 70 per cent to 30 per cent to support the deal, agreed in June between employers, unions and the Government.
SIPTU delegates, who will have about 20 per cent of the votes, will now support the deal at a special delegate conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions tomorrow.
With other big unions including IMPACT, the TEEU and the INTO also backing the agreement, it is almost certain to have majority support.
The employers' body, IBEC, is expected to announce its decision on ratification after the ICTU conference.
The pay terms cover the remaining 18 months of the three-year Sustaining Progress partnership agreement, which came into effect early last year.
The 5.5 per cent increase is to be divided into three phases. Workers earning up to €9 an hour or €351 a week are to receive an additional half per cent.
SIPTU president, Mr Jack O'Connor, said members had clearly decided in favour of the proposals on the basis of commitments given by the Government in relation to personal taxation and improved public services.
This was a reference to the unions' expectation that tax adjustments in the budget will result in further increases in take-home pay.
While the new deal does not include a specific commitment to that effect, unions concluded the pay negotiations in June with a clear understanding that workers would benefit from budgetary changes such as a widening of tax bands.
Mr O'Connor described the pay deal as a "working document" and said there was "much unfinished business" in areas such as take-home pay, pensions, childcare and measures to support standards of employment.
Unions opposing ratification of the deal at tomorrow's conference will include Mandate and the Irish Bank Officials' Association.
Mandate, which represents thousands of retail workers, said the deal did not go far enough to address the needs of those on low pay.
The Irish Nurses' Organisation and the Teachers' Union of Ireland, both of which backed the first phase of Sustaining Progress, are also opposing the deal on this occasion.
INO deputy general secretary Mr Dave Hughes said many nurses believed supporting the deal would be an endorsement and acceptance of the "appalling state of the health service".
At least one union, however, has switched sides in the opposite direction. The Civil, Public and Services Union, which rejected the first phase of Sustaining Progress, is supporting the latest deal.
ICTU delegates voted by 195 votes to 147 to endorse the first phase of the agreement in March last year.
