Thursday's threatened strike by over a quarter of a million public servants is to be suspended following a breakthrough at the talks on cutting the public sector pay roll bill.
Union sources said the Government had acknowledged that enough progress had been made in talks on an alternative solution to the Government's pay cuts proposition to warrant deferring the strike.
The sources acknowledged that what were described as 'a few loose ends' remained to be tied up in relation to the modernisation agenda and additional savings to secure money needed by the Government in 2010.
As yet, no overall modernisation agenda has been fully finalised and no final agreement on the transformation deal for the health sector has been agreed. In addition, no figure for the savings to be secured from the unions' unpaid leave proposal has been finalised.
But union sources said that while things remained to be tidied up, that could be done by Thursday.
