Employment and Industrial Relations inspectors have been instructed not to send e-mails or use the telephone in action ordered by Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin.
The union said it had been waiting for counter-proposals from the government for months and had been promised that a call for applications would be issued to employ more people.
The inspectors deserved better working conditions, it said, especially when their level of responsibility was compared with other workers within the public service.