THE TRADE union movement is expected to accept the proposed new national pay deal at a special conference today.
The position of the union side on the deal will be determined by a vote at the special delegate conference organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu).
The meeting comes just days ahead of a decision by the employers' group Ibec on its position on the deal.
Given the recent economic downturn it is expected that the number of employers invoking the "inability to pay" provisions in the agreement will increase.
Each Ictu constituent union will have a set number of votes at the delegate conference based on its size. Unions will cast their vote based on the results of ballots of members which they have undertaken over recent weeks.
However, given that the membership of most of the larger unions have supported the agreement, it seems virtually certain that the special conference will back the deal.
The agreement provides for increases of 6 per cent, phased over 21 months, for most workers.
Low-paid workers will receive an additional half per cent rise.
The deal allows for a three-month pay pause in the private sector, although this will run to 11 months in the public sector.
The proposed agreement would cover 600,000 workers in unionised employment although other employers frequently follow the terms of national pay agreements. However, the deal does contain inability-to-pay provisions which employers can invoke - although this involves an external validation process.
The prospects of the union movement supporting the deal was greatly strengthened by the result of a ballot of Siptu members, announced last Friday.
Siptu said that 80 per cent of members had accepted the terms of the deal in its ballot. It was also accepted by members of Impact, the largest public sector union.
However the country's second largest union, Unite, rejected the agreement.
The finance union IBOA, which has not backed an agreement since the mid-1990s, also supported the deal, as did the Civil Public and Services Union. The executive of the CPSU, which represents lower-paid civil servants, had recommended rejection.
Mandate, which represents staff in the hospitality sectors, also overwhelmingly accepted the deal.
Mandate had sought a flat-rate increase of €30 per week in the course of the negotiations.
Ibec will determine its position on the agreement later this week, and is expected to support the agreement. However the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), which was also a party at the talks, last month said it had "real difficulties" with the the agreement.
Its executive deferred a final decision on whether to accept the terms until later this month.
The CIF executive instructed its director general, Tom Parlon, to seek meetings with unions and the Government to express its real difficulties with the three-month pay pause and to point out that there was no provision for the operation of an "inability-to-pay" clause in the sector.