The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) and the employers' body Ibec have accepted the proposed new national pay deal. The unions voted overwhelmingly by 305-36 votes to accept the agreement.
The deal was supported by all unions at a special delegate conference at Liberty Hall in Dublin, with the exception of Unite and the Guinness Staff Union.
Congress represents about 620,000 workers in the Republic, almost 60 per cent of whom work in the private sector.
Ictu general secretary David Begg said it was now imperative that the Government “deliver in full” on the key employment rights commitments and provisions contained in the agreement.
It provides for a six per cent wage increase over 21 months, with a pay pause of three months applying in the private sector and an 11 month pause in the public sector.
Mr Begg said the deal also contained important measures to combat exploitation and strengthen employment rights, including a ban on the use of agency workers to replace striking workers.
Jack O'Connor, the leader of Siptu, the county's largest union, called on the Government not to provide State contracts to companies that did not meet the terms of the new agreement.
"Let us call a spade a spade. Any attempt to renege on the deal, especially on the part of those who did the best during the Celtic Tiger years, will represent nothing short of national sabotage at this critical moment for our economy and society," Mr O'Connor said.
Ibec said it was giving a cautious approval to the agreement.
Ibec director general Turlough O’Sullivan said members accepted the deal as the best that could be done in the current economic climate.
“Importantly the agreement recognises that there will be employers who will be unable to pay the terms,” he added.
“Others will need to agree cost offsets with their staff in order to meet the terms.”
Each Ictu union had a set number of votes at the delegate conference based on its size, and unions voted based on the results of ballots of members that they have undertaken over recent weeks.
However, given that the membership of most of the larger unions have supported the agreement, it was expected that the special conference would back the deal.
The agreement provides for increases of 6 per cent, phased over 21 months, for most workers. Low-paid workers will get a further half per cent rise.
Members of most of the State's biggest unions had earlier backed the draft national pay deal.
Siptu, Impact, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union and Mandate all voted in favour of the agreement, which was negotiated out at the end of September after marathon talks between the Government, trade unions and employers.
Smaller unions - including the National Union of Journalists, Irish Nurses' Organisation and the Irish Bank Officials' Association - had also supported the deal.
Unite, the country's second largest trade union with over 60,000 members, voted by a three-to-one majority against the agreement last week.
However, this is not enough to topple the "Yes" vote today given the number of union delegates now backing the deal.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen welcomed the ratification of the agreement saying that the social partnership process has been "an important ingredient in the development of Ireland’s economic and social capacity."
"Within the framework of this new agreement, we can continue the process of constructive engagement so that we successfully manage the transition back to sustainable levels of economic growth.”
“We face some testing times in the immediate period ahead. It is critically important, therefore, that all of the parties move forward now to support the constructive management of change and the maintenance of industrial peace," he said.
