Irish staff at the British embassy in Dublin have begun a one-day strike in protest at the forced redundancy of three colleagues.
Amicus, the union representing the workers, urged members of the public not to pass today's picket at the Merrion Road embassy.
The dispute has emerged following a decision by Britain to increase its presence in growing markets such as China at the expense of embassies where British business needs less help.
Three staff - the longest of whom has about eight years' service - have been offered packages worth up to €80,000 to leave, but the union has raised strong objections about the way in which the people chosen for redundancy were selected.
The 53 Irish staff employed by the embassy are all hired as self-employed contractors and do not pay PAYE.
The embassy said it will remain open despite the strike. In a statement, it said it regretted the action taken by staff but insisted it had acted in accordance with Irish labour law and "a wish to be fair and reasonable to staff".
"We regret that three redundancies have been necessary. UK Trade and Investment have to make changes in their worldwide network to align resources with their new strategic priorities, including emerging markets," the embassy said.
"We examined the scope for redeployment within the embassy. When this proved impossible we offered redundancy packages in line with good employer practice," it said.
The embassy also said it could not accept the Labour Relations Commission's invitation to use their services to discuss "proposed redundancies" since those redundancies had already taken place.