Civil servants at the Office of Public Works voted yesterday for industrial action in protest at the appointment of a private secretary to the Minister of State and the promotion of five staff.
The 150 Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) members plan to refuse to co-operate with Mr Martin Cullen's office in protest at his decision to go outside the OPW for a private secretary.
In another protest at the OPW's decision allegedly to depart from the agreed selection process to promote five staff, the workers will stage a series of half-day strikes.
Most of the workers are in Dublin and Kilkenny. The union will give advance warning of industrial action.
Under existing agreements, a third of staff are promoted using inter-departmental competition, a third are selected by internal Department competition and the final third are chosen using a selection process based on suitability and seniority.
However, without prior consultation with the union, OPW management made five promotions to higher executive officer using a new marking system which the union believes relegated the weighting given to seniority in the selection process.
An OPW spokeswoman rejected these claims, and insisted the appointments had been made in accordance with the standard practice of the office.
The PSEU members are angry that the Minister brought in an official from the Department of Finance. They believe this is a departure from the usual practice.
Before making the appointment, Mr Cullen had carried out perfunctory interviews with OPW staff, the union claimed. These were insulting for the people involved, it said.
The OPW spokeswoman said vacancies for the post of private secretary arose in Mr Cullen's offices in the OPW and the Department of Finance at the same time. These were filled on the basis of competitive interview.
"Contrary to the normal practice of short-listing before the interview stage, Minister of State Cullen took the decision to make the time to interview all 26 applicants," the spokeswoman said.