A strike due to start today (26 September) at Irwin’s Bakery in Northern Ireland has been postponed after the company made another offer to workers.

The planned industrial action by members of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) has been put on hold for six days so the union can ballot workers on the updated offer.

Forty-two out of 80 union members at Irwin’s had previously voted in favour of the industrial action after rejecting changes to the company sick pay scheme and an offer of 21p on all pay rates.

The BFAWU today said it was “pleased to report the complete removal of any terms and conditions of employment that had been part of the previous offer, which was the removal of company sick pay and a move from weekly to monthly pay“.

A percentage pay offer has been made along with a full day’s holiday.

“The representatives of this site have worked exceptionally hard to secure a deal that does not further attack hard-fought-for terms and conditions,” said the union in a statement. “Irwin’s members would like to thank everyone for their messages of solidarity.”

Last week, Irwin’s chief executive Michael Murphy said production would not be impacted by a strike as the business had sufficient resource in place to ensure there was no disruption to its customer base.