Federal public servants are on their second week of strikes.

Staff are taking action at Medicare, Centrelink and Child Support, as the CPSU continues pushing to end a three-year impasse over workplace rights.

Union members are striking in various forms every day from April 13 to 26 between 7am and 8.30pm.

“We’re talking about thousands of people with bills to pay, many of them part-time working mums on around $40,000 a year. They’re doing it really tough because they’ve gone more than three years without a pay rise as this dispute has dragged on and on and on,” CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said.

“There’s been no movement from DHS’s bosses or in fact any sign whatsoever that they actually want to resolve this. DHS stands out as we make slow but steady progress at other Commonwealth agencies.

“These strikes are being held at a period of high demand for DHS services, and we do expect this will cause significant disruption to the department.

“The department and Employment Minister Michaelia Cash appear to be continuing to ignore the unacceptable disadvantage to working parents that this dispute is really about.”

The strike action includes refusing to work overtime, taking the full duration of lunch breaks, and reading set messages when answering phones.

“Anyone trying to call Centrelink or get help at a Medicare office in their lunch hour can tell you that DHS is an agency in crisis” Ms Flood said.

“The Turnbull Government’s attacks on DHS have caused serious damage, with 36 million phone calls going unanswered last year, 5,000 permanent jobs slashed and this bargaining mess. Resolving bargaining would be an important first stepping to getting this agency back on track.”