SONI workers suspend strike action due to pay offer

Trade union members who operate Northern Ireland's electricity transmission system have suspended a 24-hour strike after they received a new pay offer.

On Monday the trade union Prospect announced the strike for 15 April.

It said staff at the System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI) had "voted strongly in favour" of the action.

One of the issues that led to the strike ballot was a dispute about pay increases.

• Electricity workers announce one-day strike

However, the union revealed on Friday that the strike had been suspended due to a revised pay offer from SONI.

Prospect said it would recommend that staff accept the deal from their employer.

It added that it hoped a deal could be reached so that future strike action could be avoided.

The union is awaiting the outcome of a ballot of its members on the revised offer.

Angela Moffatt, the negotiations officer for Prospect, said the union had "appealed to SONI to engage with us, and they did, after two days of industrial action short of strike".

"It meant we could meet with SONI management and agree a deal which we could recommend and put to staff," she added.

"Our members will now decide whether or not this deal is acceptable, but so far reaction has been positive so we're hopeful this will be the breakthrough that's needed."

Ms Moffatt said Prospect had suspended all action until Friday, 19 April, and that the ballot on the new offer closes on Thursday, 18 April.