Strike action at Oxfam GB has been suspended while union members consider an improved pay offer, the union Unite has announced.
More than 500 Oxfam staff began strike action on 8 December in a dispute over pay.
It is the first time industrial action has been taken at Oxfam GB, which employs more than 1,800 people in the UK.
Unite said that the strikes were in response to average wages at Oxfam being “slashed by 21 per cent in real terms since 2018…despite the charity publicly condemning real-terms pay cuts by other employers”.
An improved pay offer was made after talks on Friday, Unite said, but the union said it could not provide further details on the offer at this time.
The union said that as an act of goodwill, the five days of strikes scheduled between 14 and 17 December had been postponed while Unite balloted its members on the revised offer.
If the pay offer is rejected, staff will resume strike action on 20 December, Unite said.
Jamie Major, regional coordinating officer at Unite, said: “Unite has been clear from the outset that this dispute could and should be resolved through negotiations.
“Following talks on Friday, an improved offer was made and therefore Unite has suspended action to allow its members to be balloted on the proposed deal.”
An Oxfam spokesperson said: “We welcome the progress made during talks last week and are pleased that the strike action has been suspended.”
This comes after the charity announced last week that Halima Begum, who is head of ActionAid UK, would be succeeding Danny Sriskandarajah as chief executive of Oxfam GB.
Begum is moving to Oxfam after just six months in her role at ActionAid and is due to take up the post in the new year.