Victoria's volunteers firefighters have dropped their Supreme Court action against the Country Fire Authority over a controversial workplace agreement and will vote on the proposal within days.
After a long-running dispute, the volunteers backed down just a week before the case was due to go to trial after the federal government made changes to the Fair Work Act to protect volunteers.
Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria went to court in an attempt to stop the CFA from putting an enterprise bargaining agreement to a union vote, claiming the deal would impact volunteers.
The United Firefighters Union said it would continue to pursue a constitutional challenge against the federal government's changes to the Fair Work Act.
The Andrews government labelled the withdrawal as a "win for community safety".
Emergency Services Minister and Deputy Premier James Merlino said it was a political stunt.
"If they had a strong case they would not have withdrawn," he said.
VFBV chief executive officer Andrew Ford said the court action had "served its purpose well".
"The heavy lifting to protect CFA volunteers from the negative impacts of the UFU enterprise agreement has now transferred to the Commonwealth Fair Work Commission and the Federal court system and that's where we will now concentrate our efforts," Mr Ford said.
"Clearly the CFA did not consult with VFBV about matters that affect volunteers, clearly there is an EBA on the table that has a range of clauses that are problematic," the VFBV said.
In a statement, CFA chief executive Frances Driver said the decision meant all parties could move forward.
The dispute has seen the forced resignation of Jane Garrett as Emergency Services Minister and the sacking of the entire CFA board by the state government.
