Residents in the south-east Queensland city of Ipswich could be forced to deal with smelly, overflowing bins over the Christmas break as a pay dispute between unions and the council continues.

Garbage truck drivers have already left 60,000 bins uncollected in the city as part of industrial action against the Ipswich City Council, and they're threatening to continue it well into next week.

Residents have instead been forced to take the bins to local dumps themselves.

Transport Workers Union organiser Josh Millroy said continuing action meant 90,000 more bins could remain full until after Boxing Day if the council didn't budge on its pay offer.

"We've lodged for action this Friday and there is likely to be action on Monday and Tuesday next week," Mr Millroy said.

The union wants to see a 15 per cent pay rise over three years, while the council has offered a 12.75 per cent rise over the same period.

The consumer price index for the September quarter was 2.8 per cent, down from 3.8 per cent in the July quarter.

The council has also offered a superannuation rate of 13.5 per cent — while the union wants it to be 15 per cent — and offered to reduce working hours from 38 hours a week to 36 and a quarter hours.

Speaking to media on Friday, Mayor Teresa Harding said those differences equated to "millions and millions of dollars".

"It's a delicate balance."

Union members walked off the job for the first time last Friday and again today, holding demonstrations outside the Ipswich City Council headquarters.

They were supported by members of the CFMEU, Australian Workers Union, Federal Labor MP Shayne Neumann and newly-elected state Ipswich West Labor MP Wendy Bourne.

"We know there is plenty of money being spent in this council budget not spent on workers," Mr Millroy said.

He said the council was spending millions on the Nicholas Street redevelopment, a long contentious project within the city, but "couldn't pay [workers] that perform critical work fairly".

"These guys have been clear they're happy to bargain, but it's got to be a proper bargain and in good faith," he said.

Union representatives and the council met again on Monday, but the union said the meeting was a "waste of time" as the council didn't budge on their offer.

Council's acting CEO Matt Smith said it was disappointing the union was rejecting the "fair and reasonable offer".

"Council will continue to do all in our power to mitigate impacts of this protected industrial action on our residents leading up to Christmas," he said.

"It's disappointing that these three unions are continuing interruptions to residents' bin collection services.

He said residents impacted by missed bin collections could drop off their waste free of charge at the council's resource recovery centres in Riverview and Rosewood.

"This will allow residents to dispose of waste ahead of the Christmas week," he said.