The Public Service Association (PSA) says it has agreed on a settlement offer with the Ministry of Justice and this will now go to its members to be voted on.
This follows two months of industrial action which has had a major impact on courts around the country.
"The PSA bargaining team is satisfied that after two long months of industrial action a level of settlement that our members deserve has been reached," says PSA national secretary Glenn Barclay.
"While we accept this has been a difficult situation because of historic under-resourcing at the ministry, the ways in which pay systems were being unfairly framed and the persistently low pay on offer to our members was unacceptable.
"Now that terms of settlement have been signed, full details of the offer will go out for ratification by PSA members across Ministry of Justice sites around the country to be voted on before the end of the working year."
The PSA says the main elements of the settlement offer are:
- An across-the-board pay increase for July 2018 to June 2020 (amounting to 4% across two years)
- Injection of more money to remedy historically low pay rates;
- A lump sum payment that covers back pay and wages lost from strike action;
- Movement away from the Ministry’s performance pay matrix, supported by more funding to support transition to an agreed step-based pay scale and annual pay progression;
- A commitment to a Gender Pay Gap Action Plan Working Group.