A dispute at Fás over decentralisation has ended after staff voted overwhelmingly last night to accept settlement proposals.
However, their union, Siptu, said the campaign to have State agencies removed from the Government's decentralisation programme would be intensified.
Siptu members in Fás have been engaged in industrial action, including short-term stoppages and communications blackouts, for the past six weeks because of the agency's policy on decentralisation.
Since late 2004 it has restricted all head-office promotions to those who were willing to relocate to its proposed new headquarters in Birr. This policy is to be dropped under the terms of the settlement proposals accepted last night.
Siptu branch organiser Greg Ennis said talks at Fás on decentralisation would now take place on the same voluntary basis as at other semi-State agencies.
Fás is due to move to the Co Offaly town in 2009 under the Government's decentralisation programme, which involves moving more than 10,000 public servant posts out of Dublin.
Siptu took a case to the Labour Court which found in February that Fás management was acting in breach of agreed industrial relations procedures in only promoting staff who were prepared to relocate to Birr.
Industrial action began last month after Fás refused to alter the policy. Proposals to end the dispute were issued by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) last Friday, and were immediately accepted by management.
Mr Ennis said under the proposals the agency would now cease issuing the "Birr clause" contracts restricting promotions to those who were prepared to decentralise.
In addition, the 31 staff who had been promoted after signing such contracts would be entitled to have their cases examined.
He said the LRC proposals had also underlined that the decentralisation was voluntary.
Only six of Fás's 400 head-office staff expressed an interest in relocating to Birr through the Government's central applications facility.
Mr Ennis said only 56 out of 2,500 State agency staff whose posts were to be decentralised had volunteered to move with their jobs.
A Siptu public meeting on the issue is to be held in Dún Laoghaire at 6.30pm today at the County Hall, Marine Road.
