THE STATE'S largest union has voted to accept the new national pay deal, paving the way for the ratification of the agreement at an Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) special delegates' conference on Monday.
The 200,000-strong Siptu union voted 80 per cent in favour of the deal.
Siptu general president Jack O'Connor last night called for the pay terms to be applied "expeditiously across the economy".
Several unions yesterday announced the results of their ballots, with all voting in favour of the agreement, and most doing so by a large majority.
The State's second-largest union, Unite, earlier this week voted against the agreement. However, this would not be enough to topple the "Yes" vote on Monday given the number of union delegates now due to agree the deal.
The draft agreement provides for a pay increase of 6 per cent for all workers over 21 months. This would be paid in two phases, with a 0.5 per cent increase at the end of the agreement for workers earning less than €430.49 per week, or about €22,463 a year.
Impact, the country's biggest public service union, said 40 per cent of its 55,000 members voted in the ballot, with 90 per cent casting their vote for the deal.
Mandate said its 50,000 workers, largely based in the retail, wholesale and bar trade sectors, had also voted "overwhelmingly" in favour of the deal.
The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), which represents 45,000 workers in the electrical, construction, manufacturing and power industries, voted 80 per cent in favour of the deal.
This figure was well ahead of what had been expected despite the recommendation by the union's executive of the deal, said general secretary Owen Wills.
"The outcome obviously reflects members' concerns at the economic situation, and the damage that a free-for-all could do to job security and our competitiveness."
The Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO), with 40,000 members, also voted to ratify the agreement on Monday.
Banking union the IBOA said its 20,000 members had ended more than a decade of rejection of national wage agreements and voted to endorse the deal.
The union's executive had not issued a recommendation for acceptance but had advised members that it was the best deal that could be achieved in the current circumstances.
Despite an executive recommendation against the deal, the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) voted by 60 per cent in favour.
The union's general secretary, Blair Horan, had wanted the ballot to be put without a recommendation.
The Union of Construction Allied Trades Technicians and the Association of Higher Civil, Public Servants, and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) also voted in favour of the deal yesterday.
This is the second phase of the Towards 2016 agreement.
The first phase included pay increases of 10 per cent over a 27-month period. If ratified on Monday the new pay increases will come into force at different stages for each company in the private sector depending on when they signed up to the agrement.
Public sector workers will receive the increase in September 2009.
