Voting by Siptu members on whether to accept the offer of a 5.5 per cent pay deal began today.
The pay increase is the second phase of the national pay deal Sustaining Progress. The deal is a three-phase increase over 18 months for most workers; those earning under €9 an hour would receive an additional half per cent.
It will take a number of weeks before the union's nearly 200,000 members are balloted, and the result will determine Siptu's position at the Irish Congress of Trade Union's conference on September 1st, when unions will vote on the deal.
Last week the national executive of the State's largest union officially recommended the pay increase to members - not least because employers were not expected to concede a better deal.
