SIPTU negotiation to end FÁS strikes

THE Government’s battered decentralisation initiative was dealt a fresh blow yesterday as SIPTU appeared to win a key victory over the compulsory relocation of State agency staff outside the capital.

Union bosses called on members to back an LRC-brokered deal which looks set to end a wave of industrial action at FÁS.

Neither side would comment publicly on the agreement, but it is understood to defuse the threat to promotion of workers who do not want to relocate with the agency to Co Offaly.