The Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA) has withdrawn industrial action at Hewlett Packard following intensive discussions with the company which were chaired by an independent disputes resolution expert.

The IBOA had introduced a withdrawal of overtime and on-call arrangements at the end of August as part of a row over terms and conditions of staff who transferred to Hewlett Packard from Bank of Ireland in 2003.

The IBOA argued that the company had breached an agreement under which pay increases for the staff concerned would be in line with those applying in Bank of Ireland.

The IBOA said yesterday that it had lifted its industrial action following the recommendations made by independent disputes resolution expert Janet Hughes.

The IBOA said that the key elements of Ms Hughes's recommendation included a commitment by Hewlett Packard that all existing agreements for staff transferred from Bank of Ireland would be honoured as well as proposals for 2007 to ensure that members' salaries were kept in line with previous commitments.

It said that the recommendations also included provision for intensive discussions between the IBOA and Hewlett Packard over a four-month period in relation to strengthening terms and conditions into the future.

IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick said that the association welcomed Ms Hughes's recommendation, which vindicated their members' action in Hewlett Packard as it ensured commitments made by Hewlett Packard at the time of transfer from Bank of Ireland were honoured.

He continued: "The IBOA has lifted all industrial action against Hewlett Packard, pending a ballot of our members, and is looking forward to entering into detailed discussions with HP on all outstanding issues."

Mr Broderick said that the ballot would be conducted within the next 10 days.