Community employment supervisors are planning five days of strike action next month.
Members of SIPTU and Fórsa say they'll strike unless the Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe meets their trade union representatives to discuss a 2008 Labour Court recommendation.
The dispute revolves around pensions for the community employment (CE) supervisors.
Unions claim more than 250 community sector workers have been forced to retire without an occupational pension over the last ten years.
The Labour Court recommendation said a pension scheme should be put in place for the supervisors.
A one-day strike on the dispute was held in February.
The unions are now warning of a longer strike unless their concerns are addressed.
The five-day action would be held from Monday 13th May, and the union says it would impact CE schemes across the country.
Those include schemes providing childcare, drug rehabilitation services and elderly-care.
A protest was held outside the Dáil today to highlight the dispute.
Now: Huge turnout of CE Supervisors demanding justice outside #Dáil
Message is loud and clear for @FineGael and Paschal Donohoe.
RESPECT THE LABOUR COURT! #JusticeforCEsupervisors pic.twitter.com/TizVzWiLD4— SIPTU (@SIPTU) April 16, 2019
'Escalating the dispute'
Kate Campbell, a CE Supervisor in Co Donegal, said: “Escalating this dispute will have a devastating effect on both our CE scheme participants and the communities in which they work.
"Participants will not get paid and progress in community schemes will be halted due to the lack of supervisory management.”
Galway-based supervisor Conor Mahon insisted that they don't want to see schemes adversely impacted by industrial action.
However, he added: "We have been left with no choice, after 10 years of waiting for the Government to do the right thing, but to bring this dispute to a head.
"Our request is simple. Paschal Donohoe must meet with our union representatives and resolve our pensions issue.”
The Government claims that CE supervisors are employees of private companies.
Speaking in February, Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty said the State is "not responsible for funding pension arrangements for employees of private companies, even where the companies in question are reliant on State funding".
She added that the pensions could cost the State up to €347 million a year, suggesting that such funding "is hard to establish".
