Staff at trade union firm Thompsons Solicitors will not strike over pay tomorrow, after last-ditch talks yielded a new deal. 

The GMB union revealed earlier this month that its members at Thompsons intended to take national industrial action because of a pay dispute.

Union members voted 89% in favour of taking action on a turnout of nearly 73% after Thompsons made an original offer of 1%, followed by a revised offer of 2% after talks at ACAS. Demands for a 3.5% increase were not met.

According to the firm, the new deal does not increase the pay offer but proposes ‘non-monetary benefits’ and the chance for staff to be involved in decisions on pay.

Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: ‘Last ditch talks with Thompsons have produced a new deal, which we will now put to our members in a ballot.

‘The ballot will open on October 21 and close on November 1.This shows how strong we can be when members and reps stand together.’

GMB previously said that its members had been 'very reasonable for a number of years' and had 'accepted below inflation pay increases only to find that equity partners have taken millions in drawings on profit'.

A spokesperson for Thompsons said: 'Following constructive discussions with GMB at ACAS, whilst we have not been able to increase the pay offer we have made some proposals on non-monetary benefits and a proposal for an agreement to introduce joint structures with staff involvement on profit share and remuneration. 

'GMB has agreed to ballot members on the proposals and the strike action scheduled for tomorrow (18 October) has been called off.'