Eircom management will table new proposals to unions today in a bid to avert a strike which could paralyse the Republic's fixed-line telephone network.

The Communications Workers' Union's (CWU) executive decided in principle yesterday to serve seven days' strike notice on Eircom, which has 80 per cent of the State's telephone lines.

However, the union's leadership said it would postpone serving the notice pending the outcome of a meeting with management today.

An Eircom statement yesterday said the company would table a "second proposal" at today's meeting that it believed could be used as a basis for a settlement.

A company spokesman would not give details of the proposals, but said management believed they dealt with what were the critical issues for both sides.

CWU members voted in favour of industrial action by 97 per cent this week after the company, owned by Australian venture capital fund Babcock & Brown, refused to pay a 2 per cent pay increase unless staff agreed to new work practices.

The increase is due under the national pay deal Towards 2016.

The union believes that in seeking work-practice changes, the company is trying to impose preconditions on the wage rise, which the CWU maintains it is not entitled to do.

The union has also said it fears that the proposed changes indicate that Eircom is gearing up to split its retail and network operations, a move to which its workers are opposed.

However, the company believes that Towards 2016 entitles it to seek these changes.

It says the new work practices are designed to improve customer service in areas such as connecting subscribers.

The meeting is scheduled for noon, and is expected to last several hours. Both sides last night said they hoped the dispute could be resolved.

CWU general secretary Steve Fitzpatrick said the meeting represented an opportunity the union hoped would not be missed.

Eircom said it was entering the talks with a "positive frame of mind".

However, it is understood that there is still a large gap between the sides.

If the talks fail, the CWU, which is expected to have the support of other unions in the company, will serve strike notice on Eircom, most likely tomorrow.

There is a possibility that an outside body, such as the Labour Relations Commission, could still become involved in efforts to end the dispute.

Eircom's dominant position in the market means that a strike could hit telephone, broadband and data services across the Republic.