HWU secretary Diana Asmar made the call following meetings on Tuesday between union officials and hospital staff to discuss the transition.

Ms Asmar said the union had concerns about management and contracts awarded.

"It seems Bendigo Health is run by some real cowboys. The Victorian Health Minister, Jill Hennessey, needs to step in and investigate their management practices," she said.

Staff working at Bendigo Health in cleaning, engineering, security and catering roles will be transferred to facility management contractor Spotless. The transition of roles will begin in early 2016.

Ms Asmar said local workers would be cut out of health sector support roles in favour of cheaper imported labour.

“If these jobs are outsourced, eventually, we can expect an influx of 457 workers that will end up working for peanuts," she said.

"Pay and conditions will deteriorate. This will affect the livelihood of many lifelong residents of the Bendigo community."

Bendigo Health has denied any jobs will be lost under the new arrangement. 

The healthcare provider has maintained all workers affected by the change will be offered jobs by Spotless with identical employment conditions excluding salary packaging and entertainment claim entitlements.

Ms Asmar accused Bendigo Health of trying to hide outsourcing the roles.

“For over a year, Bendigo Health have denied outsourcing jobs to Spotless," she said. 

"They denied it to their workers. They denied it to our faces. They even denied it in writing when the Health Workers Union lodged an FOI on this matter.

“Workers will be worse off if these jobs are contracted out to Spotless. That’s why Bendigo Health management have tried to hide this for so long."

A Bendigo Health spokesperson rejected the suggestion the organisation had tried to hide the changes.

"The contract between the Victorian Government and Exemplar Health consortium to build the new Bendigo hospital was signed on 31 May 2013. The contract has always been available to the public," the spokesperson said.

Spotless is a member of the Exemplar Health consortium which was appointed by the state government to build and run the new hospital. 

The spokesperson said Bendigo Health had held meetings with staff to explain how the transfer process will work.

"We are committed to supporting our staff through this process and are working with them to ensure they are well informed and supported," the organisation said in a statement.