The largest public service union IMPACT is to recommend acceptance of the Croke Park pay and reform agreement.
Previously IMPACT's executive had said that it could not recommend acceptance of the proposals because of concerns about its implications for the health sector, and the possibility that the Government could walk away from the deal if there were any unforeseen budgetary deteroriation.
However the union's Central Executive Committee reversed its position following the issuing of a set of clarifications of the Croke Park deal earlier today by the facilitators of the agreement Kieran Mulvey and Kevin Foley.
It also followed a Labour Court recommendation which has resolved IMPACT's dispute with the Health Service Executive over administrators who were refusing to process crucial financial data.
General Secretary designate Shay Cody said the Labour Relations Commission clarifications over pay and the so-called Government get-out clause were instrumental to the IMPACT position.
He also said a clarification that savings generated from reforms would be used to commence the process of reimbursing staff who had experienced pay cuts had also been helpful.
IMPACT will now commence its ballot on the Croke park deal next week.
It will conclude in the second week in June.
IMPACT accepts Labour Court recommendations
IMPACT has notified the Health Service Executive that it will scale down its industrial action once it receives written confirmation that the HSE has accepted the full terms of yesterday's Labour Court recommendation.
For three months, administrators belonging to IMPACT have refused to process crucial financial data as part of their campaign against Government pay cuts.
As a result, the HSE says it has no idea how its €14bn budget is being spent and has threatened to suspend workers without pay if they do not resume normal duties.
Earlier, IMPACT National Secretary Kevin Callinan said that the union would modify its industrial action if the HSE confirmed it was accepting the recommendation in full.
A spokesperson for the HSE said that they looked forward to a resumption of full duties by all IMPACT members.
Yesterday, the Labour Court recommended that the union should cease its industrial action immediately.
However, it also confirmed the guarantees of jobs for life given to IMPACT members in a 2004 agreement when they transferred from the Health Boards to the HSE.
IMPACT had feared that the Croke Park pay and reform agreement might dilute the effect of those guarantees.
The union has accepted that certain aspects of the 2004 agreement would have to be amended to be compatible with the Croke Park Agreement.
The Labour Court recommended that those amendments should be completed within a week.
In his recommendation, Labour Court Chairman Kevin Duffy urged IMPACT to call off its industrial action with immediate effect.
He also made proposals for standardising terms and conditions across the public service.
