Qld: Together Queensland

The public sector union Together Queensland was expecting the government to ballot workers on the new pay deal from this Thursday, to try to reach agreement without union involvement.

A government source said they believed the ballot would reveal the majority of public servants supported the pay offer.

But Together secretary Alex Scott said he believed the ballot would show the union was more on touch with its members than the government was with its workforce.

"This will become a referendum on whether they trust the Campbell Newman leadership, and a referendum on the way that this government is governing Queensland," he said.

Together Queensland would suspend any industrial action for the duration of the ballot, expected to be two weeks, Mr Scott said.

The union dared the Queensland government to take the new pay offer directly to public servants,  and expects it will be roundly rejected.

The public sector union Together says the new offer restores conditions that were stripped away and would have amounted to a pay cut for public servants.

A new government spokesman has told AAP the new deal will mean a 2.2 per cent pay rise, something Mr Scott says is a step in the right direction.

But he says members will almost certainly reject it because it appears to do nothing to address their primary concern - job security.