The move came after IMPACT told the LRC that management planned to set up a new investigation division without technical staff after agricultural technicians had been temporarily transferred out of the area. The transfer – one of a number of examples of technical staff duties being undermined at potentially high cost to the exchequer – was under civil service mediation at the time.

This will not now be implemented unless industrial relations issues are agreed through proper processes.

IMPACT sees the establishment of the working group, whose findings will be binding on both sides, as a significant step in re-establishing and formalising agricultural technician roles. The union took industrial action on the matter earlier this year. This led to a lengthy LRC process, in which the union’s Agriculture No.1 branch has made detailed submissions on the role of technical agricultural officers.

The ongoing dispute between IMPACT and the department centres on staffing levels and the department’s failure to implement reports that would generate savings by optimising the skills and resources of agricultural officer grades. The LRC process is also addressing the grading structure, meaningful roles for agriculture officers, and a range of other industrial relations issues.

Former IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone has been nominated as a member of the working group by the union. Management has also made its nomination.