Department of Parliamentary Services public servants say they have been waiting in vain for more than a year for their bosses to make them a wage offer.

The bureaucrats, whose work underpins much of the activities of the nation's federal politicians, say they are prepared to disrupt Parliamentary Library and research activities and even services for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who tour the house each year.

There could also be disruption to internal and external communications, uniform bans, and visitors and callers to the house could find themselves being told about the pay dispute by union members reading pre-prepared scripts.

The enterprise agreement for DPS' 800 public servants expired on June 30, 2014, and, despite a series of meetings between staff representatives and department management no offer has been made.

The Community and Public Sector Union will appear before the Fair Work Commission on Thursday and argue for the right to hold a ballot of its membership on the proposed action.

The union's national secretary Nadine Flood said on Thursday that industrial action did not come naturally to DPS public servants and the threat of strike underlined the depth of their grievances.

"Department of Parliamentary Services staff want to send a strong message that they are not happy with the government's attack on their rights, conditions and take home pay," she said.

"DPS staff are very loyal and love the work they do supporting our democracy - for them to be frustrated to the point where they have to take industrial action shows how unfair and unworkable the Abbott Government's bargaining policy really is.

"DPS staff will be able to take a range of actions to express their concerns that include reading authorised statements, restricting responses to telephone calls and emails and workplace stoppages.''

Public servants at 16 departments or agencies are taking strike action with wage talks locked in stalemate while a small number of public sector workforces, including Treasury and the National Broadband Network, have voted to accept deals formed under the government's tough bargaining policy.

The looming strike raises the prospects of Parliament House being hit with industrial action by its cleaners and public servants.

About 40 of the building's cleaners walked off the job for 24 hours in pursuit of a pay rise of $1.80 an hour, and the dispute is understood to be far from settled.

It has been a year of turmoil at the Department of Parliamentary Services, which normally operates quietly behind the scenes, culmintating with the sacking in April of departmental boss Carol Mills.

The department has not announced a replacement for Ms Mills.