NORTH-EAST workers were celebrating last night after they were reinstated to the Wembley Stadium project.

Members of the GMB and Amicus unions voted in favour of a deal with Dutch contractor Hollandia in which they will be back at work within a fortnight.

The agreement came after weeks of picketing outside Wembley by the 240 workers, who lost their jobs in July when their original employer, Darlington-based Cleveland Bridge, pulled out of the project.

The men were taken on by employment agency Fast Track, on behalf of Hollandia, but later sacked in a row over hours.

GMB shop steward Graham Caster, from Eston, near Middlesbrough, told The Northern Echo the deal was "exactly what we wanted".

He said: "I am doing cartwheels; we have got our party hats on here.

"It has been very stressful, but we have been professional throughout. Financially it has been unbearable for some of them, but we stuck at it.

"The picket line was a peaceful demonstration."

GMB general secretary Kevin Curran said: "This is an excellent result for GMB members who, up until yesterday, have been sacked and locked out of Wembley with nothing to show for their efforts."

The union said it would go to a tribunal to try to recover earnings lost by its members during the dispute.

A meeting will be held tomorrow with the National Joint Council for the Engineering Construction Industry to approve the deal, and workers are likely to start returning to Wembley a week later.