The majority of Northern Ireland's 26 councils have been accused of failing to operate non-sectarian employment policies, following the publication of the latest religious employment figures.
A report by the Equality Commission today shows that the overwhelming majority of councils have a marked religious imbalance in terms of Catholic and Protestant employees.
The figures show that only four councils in Northern Ireland have achieved anything close to a religious employment balance in the make-up of their workforces.
Cookstown, Dungannon, Magherafelt and Armagh councils were shown to have achieved a religious employment ratio which have a less than 10% differential.
The Equality Commission report found that all the remaining councils had a significant religious imbalance in their workforce.
The largest religious imbalance was found in Castlereagh Borough Council, which has a 93% Protestant workforce, compared to just seven% Catholic employees.
The commission's figures showed that Carrickfergus Borough Council also had a marked religious imbalance with a 92% Protestant and eight% Catholic workforce.
The report found that Newtownabbey, Ballymoney, Ballymena, Ards, Lisburn and North Down all have workforces which are more than 80% Protestant.
In total, 15 councils across Northern Ireland which could be regarded as majority unionist, were found to employ a mostly Protestant workforce.
But the figures show that in seven councils with nationalist majorities, Catholics make up the larger proportion of the workforce.
Both Down and Derry councils were found to have three-quarter Catholic employment. On Newry and Mourne District Council Catholics make up 87.2% of the workforce.
Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (Nipsa) trade union spokeswoman Patricia McKeown said the figures appeared to show a worrying imbalance in the religious make-up of council employees across the north.
"I would have thought that the public sector, in the shape of the councils, would have provided a better reflection of the general make-up of the wider population," she said.
"While there may be different mitigating factors, every public body has a duty to provide an equality of opportunity to its workforce, which these figures do not appear to portray."
Derry socialist Eamonn McCann said the figures showed an apparent growing divide between nationalist and unionist-controlled councils.
"Unless there is a dramatic shift in political attitudes in this society, the problem of disproportionate numbers in the religious make-up of council workforces is going to be around for a long time," he said.
"It just shows how deeply rooted sectarianism is in the consciousness of this society."
A spokesman for the Equality Commission said that it would continue to monitor the findings of the report.
"The monitoring returns still identify some sections of the workforce where trends in Protestant and Roman Catholic representation vary from what might be expected given the estimated community composition of those available for work in Northern Ireland," he said.
"The commission will continue to evaluate factors associated with under-representations and where necessary work with employers and others in these sectors and locations to help them take action to turn the situation around."
