Community employment supervisors have suspended five days of planned strike action over a long-running pensions dispute.
The action was due to begin on Monday.
Today's announcement follows an agreement with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to enter into talks aimed at resolving the dispute.
The CE supervisors are represented by Fórsa and SIPTU trade unions.
They announced plans for a five day strike last month, following a one-day strike in February.
Members have been calling for action over a 2008 Labour Court recommendation that said a pension scheme should be put in place for the community employment supervisors.
According to the unions, more than 250 community sector workers have been forced to retire without an occupational pension over the past decade.
However, the Government claimed that CE supervisors are employees of private companies - and therefore the State is not responsible for the pension arrangements "even where the companies in question are reliant on State funding".
At a meeting with Employment Affairs and Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty yesterday, an agreement was reached to establish a working group to begin "meaningful engagement" aimed at resolving the concerns.
SIPTU Organiser, Eddie Mullins, said representatives of the two unions involved met to consider the proposal this morning.
He explained: “After careful consideration the committee determined that the proposed engagement provides a genuine platform to resolve the outstanding issues.
"In order to allow this process to commence the committee voted unanimously to suspend the scheduled industrial action.”
Fórsa head of division Angela Kirk added that the latest development has only arisen "as a result of the decision of trade union members to take a stand in pursuit of their legitimate claim".
