Equal pay claim could benefit thousands of civil servants

The PCS public services union has launched equal pay claims on behalf of female civilian staff at the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The union claims that employees in the MoD's equivalent of the civil service "executive officer" grade - whose roles include staff management and administration - do work of equal value to that of "instructional officers", most of whom are men. The two grades are in the same pay band, but the difference in starting salaries between them is as much as £5,000.

The claims were brought on International Women's Day, 8 March, on behalf of 11 lead applicants. However, PCS says it will call on the rest of the MoD's 4,000 female executive officer equivalents to lodge similar claims unless it receives an undertaking that the issue will be addressed.

General secretary Mark Serwotka commented: "If the MoD and the government continue to ignore equal pay problems, there is every possibility of them being left with a bill of millions to sort the problem out."

International Women's Day also saw the publication of a new equal pay guide by the Scottish Women's Convention.

The booklet is co-sponsored by skilled and professional union Amicus, and supported by the Scottish TUC (STUC). It will "reach out to all women and cut out the jargon that lawyers, employers and even unions sometimes use", according to STUC assistant secretary Mary Senior.

The equal pay guide can be downloaded from www.scottishwomensconvention.org