Public servants have ranked keeping their current conditions the highest priority in their brawl with the Federal Government over pay and conditions.

The public service union and Government have been locked in dispute for more than 18 months, sparking industrial action in agencies such as Medicare and Centrelink.

The ABC has obtained results of a Commonwealth and Public Sector Union (CPSU) survey of more than 7,000 members, which found:

94 per cent of members said keeping rights and conditions was more important than a "bigger pay rise"

94 per cent of members said keeping rights and conditions was more important than a "bigger pay rise" 99 per cent agreed protections including redundancy and redeployment should be maintained

99 per cent agreed protections including redundancy and redeployment should be maintained Workers' second highest priority was preserving their take-home pay

CPSU secretary Nadine Flood said the Government needed to listen to its staff.

"The biggest concern across the public sector is maintaining rights and conditions that make their lives work, so that's the big issue; Government's got to fix it," Ms Flood said.

"There are strong concerns about removing work and family protections and right that give workers some control over their working hours.

"For example, part timers who could be forced to work full-time or extended hours so they can't pick the kids up from school or childcare."

The current workplace agreements for 165,000 public servants in more than 100 Commonwealth agencies expired on June 30, 2014.

Wage-rise limit lifted

The new Employment Minister, Michaelia Cash, last week lifted the Government's wage rise limit from 1.5 per cent per year to 2 per cent.

Most of those surveyed said wage rises of 2.5 per cent a year were fair and realistic to achieve.

Ms Flood said the Government was not taking a "real world" approach to productivity, after the loss of thousands of public sector positions in recent years.

"There are workers who have copped 17,500 job cuts picking up much of the work left behind, major changes to work, enormous restructuring with 25,000 public servants moved around and Government says that hasn't saved a dollar," she said.

"There is no other major employer in the country ... reaching agreements that look like what is on offer from Commonwealth Government."

The CPSU's governing council is meeting in Canberra this week, with its senior leaders discussing the next moves on the issue.

The ABC has sought comment from the Federal Government.