The executive of the State's largest public sector union, IMPACT, has endorsed the new pay deal agreed by unions and employers last week.
Final acceptance of the second phase of Sustaining Progresscan only happen when the union's 52,000 members are balloted, however. Voting papers will be distributed next week and a result declared on Tuesday, July 27th.
IMPACT general secretary Mr Peter McLoone, who was the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' (ICTU) chief negotiator at the pay talks, told branch secretaries this morning the new deal is among the best ever negotiated.
Apart from getting increases above inflation, ICTU put issues such as tax, the minimum wage, redundancy payments, disability, childcare and pensions onto the agenda, Mr McLoone said.
"IBEC trenchantly resisted a trade union movement united in its determination to do something extra for the low paid. We successfully gained a higher percentage payment for workers earning less than €351 a week, plus a review of the national minimum wage with a view to a rise next May," Mr McLoone added.
Pay rises of 5.5-6 per cent over 18 months were agreed, meaning Sustaining Progresswill have delivered increases of more than 13 per cent over its three-year span.
Public sector workers are also receiving average increases of 8.9 per cent under the separate benchmarking deal, meaning earnings will have increased by 23 per cent by the time Sustaining Progressexpires in 2006.
The public service modernisation programme will continue under the terms of the deal. "But any changes to modernisation plans must have the agreement of trade unions through the appropriate partnership committees," said Mr McLoone.