Federal Court staff will use rolling strikes to heap more pressure on their bosses in a long-running workplace stoush over cuts to rights and conditions.
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The industrial action follows a half-day strike two weeks ago, an unprecedented move by court workers that the main public sector union said closed multiple registry offices.
Frustrated with a lack of progress in negotiations with court management, staff will join rolling strikes on Wednesday and Thursday to resist changes they fear could threaten their job security.
Court bosses have refused conciliation by the Fair Work Commission.
A Federal Court spokesman said that another meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, when the court hoped to make progress.
Community and Public Sector Union deputy national president Rupert Evans said the dispute had taken a toll on courts staff who had gone more than four years without a pay rise.
He called on Attorney-General George Brandis to advise management to follow the lead set by federal departments that had ended their industrial strife with new agreements.
"Job security is a real concern for these people, given the cuts that have already happened and the rights that are in the firing line," Mr Evans said.
"The inflexibility of courts management is doing nothing to resolve this long-running dispute, while doing further damage to staff morale.
"Management need to recognise that the key issue for staff in this dispute is holding onto their existing workplace rights and job security, and that there won't be a resolution until these harsh and unreasonable cuts are taken off the table."
Staff are negotiating a single agreement after the Federal Court of Australia's merger of administration with the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court in 2016.
The Federal Court's public servants responded with a 90 per cent 'no' vote in June to a proposal offering them half the wage rises being paid to their counterparts in other departments and agencies.
Court staff were asked to accept a new deal that offered an average pay rise of 1 per cent for each of the proposed agreement's three years, cuts to conditions and entitlements and, for some, a longer working week.
A spokesman for Senator Brandis said the federal courts were responsible for their own operation and management, including for enterprise bargaining matters.
