Union to refer pay report to Equality Authority

The CPSU union has decided to refer the Benchmarking Report to the Equality Authority on the basis that it discriminates between men and women.

At a meeting in Dublin today, representatives of the union's 10,000 members voted overwhelmingly to reject the report.

Under the report CPSU members, who are mainly lower-grade civil servants and predominantly female, a pay rise of 9 per cent was recommended.

This compares with a recommendation of 13 per cent for high-grade civil servant posts, which are predominately male.

This distinction reinforces gender pay discrimination, according to the union.