A PAY dispute at south coast ferries and holidays firm Wightlink has been resolved peacefully.

Members of the maritime union RMT at the Australian-owned company overwhelmingly accepted a new annual pay deal following a referendum.

The across-the-board offer had been made to all 600 staff at Wightlink following top-level talks with the RMT and fellow union Numast.

It is understood that staff will be given £500 on top of their base salary for this year, with an extra three per cent next year.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo, services between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight were set to be disrupted over the critical Easter holiday break after RMT members voted to hold stoppages in a row over a pay freeze. The impending strike action was then suspended at the 11th hour following dialogue between management and union leaders.

Many members of the RMT at Wightlink, which runs round-the-clock services between Lymington and Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, had reacted with anger earlier this year when the company originally ruled out a pay rise.

That announcement was reportedly greeted with incredulity by rank-and-file staff in the light of revelations that former boss and major shareholder Mike Aitken was given a £30m pay-off after Australian investment bank Macquarie bought Wightlink last summer for £210m. Wightlink, which is now run by chief executive Andrew Willson, denied at the time that the payment had any bearing on its decision not to increase wages this year.

The company, which faced a £900,000 bill after a pay rise was negotiated at the end of 2004, issued a statement saying it was "pleased" with the latest outcome.

As also previously reported, Wightlink the dominant player in the Solent had to soak up a rise in labour costs following the implementation of a 35-hour working week. In contrast Southamp-ton-based rival Red Funnel, which employs 400 people, averages 45 hours.