Anger among nurses and low-paid civil servants at the outcome of the benchmarking pay process is set to be vented at special conferences today and on Monday.
The Civil and Public Service Union and the Irish Nurses' Organisation are holding separate conferences in Dublin to agree formal responses to the benchmarking report, issued in July.
Both will deliver strong criticism of the report, claiming it has widened the gap between lower- and higher-paid civil servants and, in the case of nurses, opened new anomalies in pay structures.
The two unions, however, are likely to stop short of withdrawing from the benchmarking process for the time being at least.
Average pay increases of 8.9 per cent for 230,000 public servants were recommended in the report, designed to align pay rates in the public service with those in the private sector.
About 250 CPSU delegates will debate a motion from the union's executive today, calling for a rejection of both the outcome of the benchmarking process and the "lack of transparency" involved.
The motion also accuses the benchmarking body of failing to take on board the CPSU's submission on the need to eliminate the "gender pay gap" in the civil service, and proposes that the issue be referred to the Equality Authority for investigation.
There are no plans for industrial action at this stage, however, until issues, such as a timetable for payment and the conditions to be attached, are worked out.
The Government is already committed to paying 25 per cent of the €1.1 billion in pay rises recommended, backdated to last December, as long as the benchmarking report is accepted in full by the unions.
The remaining 75 per cent, however, is conditional on acceptance of modernisation and work practice changes.
Weekly discussions on the timetable for payment and changes required are currently taking place between the Department of Finance and the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
About four-fifths of the CPSU's 11,000 civil service members are women. They are due to receive pay rises of between 8.5 and 10 per cent under benchmarking, compared to 13.8 per cent for colleagues in higher grades.
Members of the Irish Nurses' Organisation, who meet to formalise their response to benchmarking on Monday, want two "anomalies" in particular to be addressed.
They say the report opened a gap in pay between public health nurses and ward sisters, and failed to address a situation in which mental handicap nurses are paid less than assistant house parents, who report to them.
A ballot for industrial action by mental handicap nurses on this issue began yesterday.
A number of other issues, such as the nurses' demand for a 35-hour week, which, the INO says, the benchmarking body failed to address, have been referred to the Labour Relations Commission.
In a statement yesterday, SIPTU's national nursing council said nurses had been "totally let down" by the benchmarking report.
Mr Oliver McDonagh, the union's national nursing official, said further consultations would take place, but there was "no strong argument" in favour of the benchmarking report for nurses.
