More than half of Bradford's workers are fed up with their job - with salary being cited as their greatest gripe

Last month's pay disputes in the public sector, which led to the first national strike since 1979, may not be repeated in the private sector, but new research by Alliance & Leicester Business Banking reveals business leaders should have cause for concern.

A massive 67 per cent of the districts workers are unhappy with one or more aspects of their job.

Nationally, 59 per cent of all employees are unhappy with their jobs. Just under half, 48 per cent, of private sector employees in the area who are unhappy with their job cite low pay as their biggest grumble.

It also found a quarter of dissatisfied staff in the district are unhappy about working hours.

They also receive 13 fewer days of paid leave a year than the average EU worker. The dissatisfaction with pay is despite average earnings in the private sector increasing by 3.8 per cent in the year to May 2002.

But, with annual inflation running at 1.5 per cent, workers still disagree.

Women are less satisfied with their salaries than men. A massive 53 per cent of discontented female workers blame poor pay, compared to 49 per cent of men. Gareth Williams, head of marketing at Alliance & Leicester Business Banking, said: "We have recently seen more than a million public sector workers going on strike despite the announcement of record increases in government spending. Although similar action is unlikely to hit the private sector, it would be short-sighted to think that dissatisfaction with pay and working hours on this scale does not impact on productivity, customer service and quality of work.

"Even though salaries have been rising sharply over the past few years, levels of expectation have been rising faster.

"Employers need to recognise that salary gripes are often a reflection on other aspects of the job, such as long working hours or a lack of tangible benefits."