Around 900 clerical officers have begun picketing local Department of Agriculture offices in the west of the country over what they claim are insufficient promotional opportunities.
Today's action is an escalation of a work-to-rule begun on March 18th which involved a refusal by staff to handle telephone and fax queries in around 30 offices in Counties Galway, Mayo, Kerry and Limerick.
The Civil and Public Services Union (CPSU) claims 150 staff at the Department, who had been taking the industrial action, have been suspended without pay.
Mr Kevin Gaughran, assistant general secretary of the CPSU which represents the workers, said "the management decision to suspend staff was particularly provocative in advance of a scheduled meeting earlier yesterday and will lead to a dramatic reduction in the range of services available to farmers in the four affected counties".
He said the Department's offices in these regions were closed and would stay closed until the suspended staff were reinstated.
"The impact on Area Aid applications, Suckler Cow Premium payments and the sale and slaughter of animals will be immediate and the Department are entirely to blame for this curtailment of services," Mr Gaughran claimed.
It is thought that a continuation of the dispute would affect the processing of income support payments and other grants to farmers worth up to €1.7 billion a year.
No comment was available from the Department of Agriculture this afternoon.
