Transport Workers Union secretary Klaus Pinkas said the union has been communicating with Sita, the employer, since the postponing of industrial action last week - but no agreement has been reached.

“The communication is open between us and we’re always happy to talk – the problem is they haven’t put any new offers on the table,” he said.

“We’ll be meeting with the employer for one last time tomorrow at 9am prior to going to the Fair Work Commission in an effort to sort something out

“We’ll exhaust every option we have before we take industrial action, but after nine months of negotiation we’re not expecting to see a last minute decision during these meetings.”

A Sita Australia spokesman said the company "strongly believes that settlement is achievable without the need for industrial action and we have applied to the Fair Work Commission to deal with this dispute".

"We hope the Fair Work Commission can help us get to the bottom of it before industrial action is taken. This make should be able to be sorted out through negotiation if all parties are truly committed," he said.

Mr Pinkas said workers were $100 to $150 worse off each week under their new arrangement, which took effect when Sita took over the garbage collection contract in October last year, although he admitted the changes were "complicated”.

“At the end of the day, the guys just care what their payslip says at the end of the week,” he said.

Sita Australia's corporate affairs manager Luke Schepen said the Transport Worker's Union's claim that drivers were working the same hours for less money was false.

"We pay them wage rates that are the same, overtime rates that are the same and allowances that are the same or greater that they used to receive," he said.

"To date the only evidence we have been provided with is anecdotal and clearly does not relate to an apples and apples comparison in relation to the number of hours worked.

"The four-day work week that the TWU is seeking has no other purpose than to increase take home pay and will limit productivity improvements and adversely impact the efficient rostering of services for the residents of the ACT."

As it stands, a number of suburbs across Canberra will be impacted by the planned industrial action.

The suburbs set to miss out are Acton, Ainslie, Aranda, Campbell, City, Barton, Braddon, Beard, Belconnen, Bruce, Deakin, Downer, Dunlop, Duntroon, Evatt, Franklin, Florey, Forrest, Giralang, Griffith, Hackett, Harrison, Harman, Hawker, Higgins, Hughes, Holt, Kaleen, Kingston, Latham, Lawson, Lyneham, Macgregor, Macquarie, McKellar, Narrabundah, North Lyneham, Oaks Estate, O’Conner, O’Malley, Page, Pialligo, Reid, Red Hill, Scullin, Turner, Watson, Weetangera, and Yarralumla.