CIVIL servants in York walked out today in a protest over widening pay gaps.

The action by members of the Public and Commercial Services Union, working in Peasholme Green, followed a breakdown in talks about separate pay negotiations at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and its executive agencies.

Les Pearson, the union's York branch chair, said: "DEFRA and its executive agencies are a prime example of the unfair and farcical nature of civil service pay.

"Members doing the same job have had enough of the growing inequality of pay within the department and its agencies and want equal pay for equal worth.

"What we are seeing is a two-tier workforce in operation, and it is high time that the department and the Government stepped in and sorted out the growing mess that is civil service pay."

Updated: 16:19 Friday, October 21, 2005