12 September 2003
The Public and Commercial Services union will go to an employment tribunal if a government ministry does not ditch plans to pay external recruits higher salaries.
Whitehall's largest union has told Public Finance it will use equal pay legislation to try to stop the Department for Culture, Media and Sport from giving grade B officers hired from outside the civil service a starting salary of £26,000. Grade Bs recruited internally start at the bottom of the pay band on just £23,245.
A spokesman for the PCS said officials hoped a solution could be thrashed out during the course of the pay negotiations that are currently getting under way, but warned it would not be dropped if agreement could not be reached.
The union is angry at what it sees as preferential treatment being given to candidates outside the civil service, many of whom are likely to come from the private sector.
'We should have a clearer picture by the beginning of October,' the spokesman said. 'We believe that there is a case under equal pay legislation, so if this is not resolved we will bring it forward to an employment tribunal.'
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