Health Workers Union secretary Diana Asmar said the workers were the “the lowest paid and unhappiest pathology workers in Australia by a country mile” and had voted to take protected industrial action after they were offered “a free gingerbread cookie in lieu of a pay rise”.

“These Bendigo workers have waited for over a decade for a pay deal. After a year of negotiations in good faith by the union and a 0 per cent pay offer on the table, they won’t be bought off with a cookie,” she said.

“Dorevitch employees deserve to be treated with respect. They take their work seriously and care deeply for their patients. The community respect them, but management do not.”

The strike is also expected to affect collection points across the state, including at Rochester and Elmore District Health Service and Heathcote Health.

Ms Asmar said Dorevitch’s owner, Primary Health Care Limited, had posted more than $1.2 billion in profits since the last pay deal with workers and wages had stagnated since then, going backwards in real terms.

“Our members are overworked and underpaid, they are fed up with low wages, it’s not fair and it’s not right. They just want a fair bloody go,” she said.

One worker at the company’s Bridge Street site, who wished to remain anonymous, said wages not keeping pace with the cost of living made it difficult to make ends meet and left employees feeling undervalued.

“We earn $21 an hour – we could all earn more working in a supermarket,” they said.

“For what we have to do, the qualifications and what we have to learn and the people we have to deal with it’s just ridiculous.”

The worker said employees’ duties included drug testing people on parole, for which they received no extra pay.

“Some people are still on drugs, they’re on ice or heroin when they come in and we’re just one person standing in a toilet with them,” they said.

“We have no security and it took us six months to get a personal alarm which rings the police but we have no panic button or anything like that.”

The stop work ban will be in place for 24 hours but the union has not ruled out further strikes until a deal is reached.

A spokeswoman for Dorevitch Pathology said the company was anticipating “minimal disruption to services due to the one day industrial action next week”.

“There will be no impact to the services we provide public and private hospitals, and our laboratories will continue to process tests and work with GPs to deliver results as per normal,” she said.

“Dorevitch remains committed to its GPs, patients and staff as we work through this matter. A number of contingencies have been implemented to limit the impact to patients and GPs.”

The spokeswoman said the company’s website would be updated with details of the closures and information on the nearest alternative collection centre on Monday.

Dorevitch also performs work for the state government, screening prisoners and serious offenders for drugs, including at Loddon Prison, and Ms Asmar said the union held concerns about the company’s ability to continue to deliver the service.

“In relation to urine drug testing, the union has concerns about Dorevitch’s ability to meet national standards on urine drug testing during the industrial action,” she said.

“We’ve written to the legal fraternity relaying our concerns.”

The employee who spoke to the Bendigo Advertiser said the workers would continue to push for a better deal after Monday’s action.

“We just feel like we’re never going to get a pay rise if we don’t do something,” they said.

“We’re just going to stand our ground and we’re not going to back down.”

A spokesman for Corrections Victoria said the organisation was making arrangements to limit the impact of the proposed industrial action.

Rochester and Elmore District Health Service and Heathcote Health were unavailable for comment.