One hundred civil servants at the Office of Public Works will withdraw co-operation from the office of the Minister of State, Mr Martin Cullen, from today in a dispute over the appointment of the Minister's private secretary.
The members of the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) will refuse to prepare replies to parliamentary questions or handle letters or representations to the Minister.
In a separate dispute, PSEU members intend to begin a series of half-day work stoppages next Tuesday in a disagreement about recent promotions.
The workers are angry that Mr Cullen went outside the OPW and brought someone from the Department of Finance to be his private secretary. They believe this is in breach of the usual practice of filling such positions from within the OPW.
"The members concerned feel that this action was compounded by a process in which the Minister engaged in perfunctory interviews with the staff in the office who applied for the position," the PSEU assistant general secretary, Mr Tom Geraghty, said.
However, an OPW spokeswoman said vacancies for the posts of private secretary for the Minister at the OPW and the Department of Finance had occurred at the same time. These were filled on the basis of competitive interview. The Minister had departed from the practice of shortlisting candidates before interviewing. Mr Cullen had interviewed all 26 applicants for the posts.
Ultimately, the appointment of a private secretary was a matter for the Minister, the spokeswoman said.
In the second dispute, the union claimed the OPW had departed from existing selection procedures in the recent promotion of five staff to higher executive officer positions. The OPW has rejected this, insisting the posts had been filled using the standard practice of the office.
The OPW wrote to the union yesterday offering a meeting between the union and the OPW chairman, Mr Barry Murphy, to discuss promotion procedures.
Mr Geraghty said the fact that two disputes had broken out at the OPW was an indication of a complete breakdown in normal industrial relations at the office.