WORKERS AT STATE-owned building society EBS have called off a strike that was due to be held tomorrow over a payment, which staff say is owed to them from December.

The Unite union, which represents 300 workers at the institution, has now agreed to meet with company management tomorrow. However, the union said the strike has not been cancelled but deferred by a week, pending the outcome of the talks.

Staff were due to walk out in a dispute over the so-called ’13th month’ payment which was usually received in December. This is not performance-related, but is considered a bonus by the Government – meaning it cannot be paid under the terms of the government’s takeover of AIB.

According to Unite, management at the firm were still able to receive the payment but lower-paid employees were not.

This evening the union welcomed the LRC talks. “We have agreed to meet at the Labour Relations Commission and will hopefully make progress towards resolving this issue,” said Colm Quinlan, regional officer with Unite.

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