Wages showdown looms in Turnbull's department

Both managers at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the main workplace union are campaigning hard in the wake of a series of high-profile rejections of pay proposals.

Common ground looks hard to find with the opposing sides unable to agree on even the figures in the offer.

The department says it has worked hard to come up with a deal that is fair to about 1700 public servants drafted into PM&C from lower-paid departments as former prime minister Tony Abbott dramatically expanded the operation after he was elected.

But the Community and Public Sector Union is encouraging its members to say no, arguing in a bulletin sent out to PM&C staffers that the offer contains conditions harsher than are called for in the government framework.

"Employees are telling us they are voting 'No' to the proposed offer because it significantly cuts your conditions, going even further than the harsh and unworkable Government Bargaining Policy, has an unreasonable pay and classification structure that damages your career progression [and] severely cuts your current performance-based incremental advancement arrangements," the bulletin states.

The union is also unhappy with the pay rise on offer, which it says is just below 1.2 per cent a year, well under the 1.5 per cent offered to other departments.

PM&C rejected the union's assertion on Tuesday.

"The offer is an average of 4.5 per cent over three years and is consistent with the government's bargaining policy," a spokesman said. No other comment was offered.

The union is also unhappy about plans to "streamline" many of the terms and conditions from the last agreement, which expired in June 2014.

"[The offer] does not compensate for the delays caused by MoG exceptional circumstances and government delays [and] moves many of your hard fought and won conditions into easily changeable policy," the bulletin reads.

"Remember, when you are voting on the proposed EA you are NOT voting on the policies, which have been stripped out."

PM&C is influential way beyond its size and the result of the poll, which starts on Monday, October 12, will be watched closely throughout the service.

The pay dispute across the 152,000-strong public service is locked in stalemate, with tens of thousands of workers in large departments having rejected deals offered to them under the Coalition's tough bargaining framework.

But departmental bosses say they have no room within the framework to make better offers and the resulting industrial action has already seen disruption by officials at the nation's air and sea ports as well as Centrelink offices and other government installations.

Public service Minister Michaelia Cash indicated last week that she was willing to meet workplace unions in an effort to resolve the impasse.