About 130 council workers downed tools and held a protest outside their headquarters yesterday in a row over the suspension of two colleagues.
The picket was staged outside the Waterford County Council building in Dungarvan by the Unite trade union which accused the local authority of a breach of the Croke Park agreement.
According to Unite, the council suspended two workers “after refusing to give assurances over future employment” in the event of changes in the management of the county’s water services.
A general meeting of the outdoor staff on Monday night voted not to go to work yesterday morning and to stage a protest seeking the reinstatement of the workers involved.
In a statement, Waterford County Council said it had been negotiating with Unite since June 2011, “in accordance with commitments entered into under the Croke Park Agreement”, to reorganise the delivery of services “in the context of an ongoing reduction in employee numbers”.
A “revised” operational structure for roads and water services was due to be implemented on Monday but the council said “a number of employees failed to co-operate with the changes”.
The strike is “unofficial”, according to the council, which said the union had not referred its dispute to the Labour Relations Commission or Labour Court for arbitration.