A strike due to be staged at Argos stores across the country today has been called off.
The Mandate union said proposals in the pay dispute have been agreed with management in a bid to avert industrial action. Talks between the parties began in the Labour Relations Commission last Thursday, with the settlement made last Friday night.
The union confirmed last night that it will ballot its members early in the New Year on the proposals.
The union was seeking a 10 per cent pay rise for staff, two-thirds of whom the union claims are earning just over €9 an hour. It also wanted the company to return to negotiating pay rises with the union.
However, Argos maintained it was paying fair rates of pay, adding that the stoppage was outside the terms of the Towards 2016 national agreement.
Pickets were placed at 18 Argos stores around the country earlier this month, and the company flew in staff from the Britain to man the shops.
Argos employs 1,200 people in Ireland, with Mandate representing around 50 per cent of the retail staff in the company.