BOLTON'S female workers are paid, on average, nearly £85 a week less than men in the town.

Research carried out by the GMB - Britain's General Union - has revealed that women in the town are only receiving around 80 per cent of the wages paid to men.

The average full-time gross weekly wage for men in Bolton is £432.76, while for women it is £348.17.

The pay gap between men and women In Manchester is even higher, according to the union. It says women in the city earn £140.77 less than men on average.

An Equal Opportunity Commission opinion poll published this week also revealed that as a result of a culture of pay rate secrecy, only one in four workers is aware of how much colleagues earn.

The GMB is now calling on employers to undertake equal pay audits to close the gap and put an end to secrecy surrounding pay.

The union believes that resolving pay inequalities will boost workers' morale and avoid employers' involvement in lengthy, unnecessary and expensive legal actions.

Employees can use a Government equal pay questionnaire from the GMB website to discover if they have a case for equal pay, but the GMB says it feels this may leave them open to victimisation.

Karen Constantine, GMB national equal rights officer, said the veil of pay secrecy was a "key factor" in the continuing problem of unequal pay and that compulsory equal wage audits were the only solution.

She said: "For too long we have seen women paid less purely because they are women."