Updated at 11.07pm

A PLANNED STRIKE tomorrow by Marks & Spencer workers has been called off following talks today at the Labour Relations Commission.

M&S employees were due to strike in a row over changes to the company’s pension scheme. They also carried out a day-long work stoppage last Saturday, while a further day of action has been threatened for Friday week.

In a statement this evening, the Mandate trade union confirms a decision has been made to defer tomorrow’s strike “after intervention from the Labour Court”.

The union, which represents over 2,000 M&S workers, says that while last minute negotiations at the LRC did not bring about a resolution, “both parties will now attend an emergency Labour Court hearing on Friday”.

The statement concludes:

Mandate will attend the emergency Labour Court hearing in an effort to resolve all of the issues in dispute and avoid the third planned day of action on Friday 20th December.

SIPTU, which represents some 140 workers across stores in the Dublin area, also confirmed it would lift its strike threat for this week and attend Friday’s Labour Court hearing.

Workers voted overwhelmingly in favour of going on strike after the company closed the employee defined benefit pension scheme on 31 October.

Marks and Spencer is also proposing to cut employee pay in a range of areas, including the elimination of the Christmas bonus usually paid to workers and a reduction in the Sunday and public holiday premium.

First posted at 9.40pm

Read: Four ‘unprofitable’ M&S stores to close with the loss of 180 jobs >

Read: Marks & Spencer staff to strike next Saturday >

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