The Community and Public Sector Union gave a roundup of strike action so far, and threats of more to come, at a half-day strike meeting in Canberra last week.

The CPSU said as many as 6,500 members from 15 agencies were able to strike in Canberra last Tuesday, combined with thousands more at federal offices across Australia.

CPSU national secretary Nadine Flood warned that the pressure from workers would only increase, and will soon do damage to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's border protection policies.

She threatened to organise further industrial action to coincide with the launch of the Australian Border Force, potentially reducing the effectiveness of the new department.

“If the government doesn't resolve the issue for Customs, Immigration and Border Protection, we will see more serious industrial action,” Ms Flood said.

The union leader also repeated the claim that the Federal Government is trying to get staff to accept a pay deal that is not in line with inflation.

Ms Flood said Treasury and Reserve Bank projections saw inflation running at 2.25 per cent to 2.5 per cent a year for the next three years.

This is well above the 1.5 per cent a year (and less) being offered to public servants.

She said the effective pay for public servants would be even lower than the numbers put on the negotiation table, because of the government’s planned cutbacks to rights and conditions.

Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd says that with the consumer price index running at a total of 0.4 per cent in the past two quarters (0.8 per cent if annualised), the pay offers are fair compared with growth in the cost of living.

Negotiations remain stalled for 115 agreements covering 160,000 public servants over a year after bargaining began.

Ms Flood addressed calls made by Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, who in a recent parliamentary hearing asked how Ms Flood could sleep at night while requesting a 12 per cent pay increase over three years.

“You know you're winning an argument when they put up Cory Bernardi,” Ms Flood said.