Benchmarking report could spark industrial action

THE bulk of lower ranking public sector workers will today be told they are to get little or no pay increases through benchmarking in what will spark threats of strike action and could spell the end of participation in the benchmarking process.

There is a general expectation only senior managers will be given notable awards and if that is the case the Civil, Public and Services Union predicts trouble not only for the benchmarking process but also for the Government.

It has blamed the failure to remunerate rank and file workers in the sector on the way the benchmarking process is run. The body bases its assessment of public sector pay on the equivalent grades in the private sector.