Workers at Bord Gais have been asked to defer next Monday's strike to allow further talks to take place at the Labour Relations Commission.
The two main unions in the company, SIPTU and MSF, have served strike notice in pursuit of a productivity claim and a shareholding in the company when it is privatised.
The unions are seeking £8,000 for each of the 720 employees in return for productivity measures. A more intractable issue is the claim by the unions for a 5 per cent shareholding in the company.
SIPTU, which represents about 400 of the 650 unionised employees, is meeting tomorrow to consider the LRC request for a deferral of strike action.