An end to the decentralisation dispute at the State training agency Fás may be in sight after both sides today accepted Labour Relations Commission (LRC) recommendations.
Siptu statement
The trade union Siptu said its members at Fás head office will meet on Monday to decide whether or not to accept the LRC proposals to defuse the dispute over compulsory relocation.
Staff claimed this week they had been told they would not be eligible for future promotion if they refused to go to Birr.
They have been protesting outside the agency's offices in Dublin about the plan to relocate their jobs from the capital to Birr in 2009.
Siptu branch organiser Greg Ennis said after a meeting this morning that both sides had accepted the LRC proposals. The union will be recommending acceptance to the members at Monday's meeting in the Fás head office at 4.30pm.
"If members vote to accept the LRC proposals, further industrial action at the state training and employment agency will cease," Siptu said in a statement.
Union officials warned earlier this week that protests in the State agencies over the Government's controversial decentralisation plan could escalate.
Some 10,300 public servants are due to move to over 50 locations throughout the State under the plan announced in then-minister for finance Charlie McCreevy's 2003 Budget.
Siptu is campaigning to have non-commercial State agencies removed from the programme.
The trade union Impact, which held its biennial conference in Killarney this week, claimed it would cost €65 million to replace public servants who chose not to move with their jobs.
Impact said it would be impossible to replace some highly qualified and experienced staff if the plan proceeded.