The leader of the IMPACT trade union said he is expecting a positive report from the Public Service Benchmarking Body at the end of next month.
Speaking at his union's delegate conference in Cork yesterday, general secretary Mr Peter McLoone said he is confident the benchmarking body will find that public sector pay levels now lag behind the private sector.
Mr McLoone gave a strong warning that high-profile and vocal groups should not be given better treatment than others who do equally important but less visible work.
"If any group, either within or outside ICTU, seeks a higher increase than is recommended by the benchmarking body, we will insist on equal treatment for our members," Mr McLoone said.
Mr McLoone presented a detailed paper to 600 delegates on how the 46,000-strong union should deal with the benchmarking report, due at the end of June.
He said IMPACT will base its assessment of the report on five main elements: the scale of pay awards; the range of pay awards; its treatment of each IMPACT grade, group and category; the quartile selected for comparisons with private sector pay; and the new government's attitude towards implementation.
Mr McLoone made a stout defence of clerical, administrative and managerial staff in the public services. "They have sat in silence enduring abuse and snide comments from economists and, to their shame, some politicians and so-called professionals. If the work of clerical, administrative and managerial grades is sometimes less visible, it nonetheless sustains our system of public administration in a fair consistent manner."