The workers plan to rally at Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre on Lambert Street in Ararat at 1.30pm.

They will then march to the Department of Human Services office on High Street near the Vincent Street intersection.

Depending on the route the protest march takes, it could block or impede the Western Highway through Ararat. 

Health and Community Services Union state secretary Lloyd Williams said on Wednesday afternoon that he did not yet know whether the protesters would march on footpaths or on the road itself.

“In terms of disrupting traffic, we haven’t worked out the logistics yet,” he said.

Mr Williams said more than 40 public disability carers would attend to protest to demand better wages, conditions and job security as part of an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement campaign.

"The job security for staff is being put at risk by the Andrews Government threat to privatise the sector while the National Disability Insurance Scheme is rolling out” Mr Williams said.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) aims to provide federal coverage for care and rehabilitation services, similar to Medicare, to help people with a disability.  

Mr Williams claimed that a trial run for privatisation of disability services would risk quality jobs and 300 positions in the Grampians region would face up to a 30 per cent pay cut and major cuts to conditions.

“Over 170 people with profound disabilities from the region will also be severely affected,” he said. 

“This will have a huge ramification for the community.”

In April, the state government sought expressions of interest from non-government providers for the delivery of three areas of disability services.

Victorian Disability Minister Martin Foley said at the time that the process was to test whether the strict conditions the Government has set for the future of disability services can be met.

“The NDIS is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform the lives of Victorians with disabilities, and the lives of their families and carers, and we need to get it right for them,” Mr Foley said in April.

 “We will continue to work with staff and our industrial partners to grow a skilled, diverse and responsive disability sector.”

“To deliver the NDIS as promised, we need to expand our disability services whilst ensuring we maintain quality safeguards and clear rights for all participants.”

Mr Williams said a move to privatisation would affect hundreds of disability workers and the residents that use their services. 

“The workers will leave the system as they’ll see cuts to pay and job security. It will be a disaster for service delivery in Stawell, Horsham and Ararat,” he said.

“In Ararat we have 19 group homes which look after 90 of our 95 residents. In Horsham there are three group homes which look after 15 residents. In Stawell we have 13 group homes that look after 65 residents.

“That’s about 165 residents and in terms of staff affected, we have 150 in Ararat, 30 in Horsham and 110 in Stawell. That is a significant number. These workers fear for their jobs, they fear for the residents.”

Mr Williams said the NDIS should raise the bar for care quality and service standards.

“But at the moment the NDIS rollout is leading us down the low road of an insecure, fragmented workforce, with a risk riddled, cut price service,” he said.

“Under privatisation, staff face shifts as short as 1 hour. How can this work in regional areas where people may be driving half an hour just to get to work?”

"People with disabilities, particularly those living in residential accommodation services, are amongst the most disadvantaged Victorian citizens. This agreement will be a test of the Daniel Andrews government's commitment to people with a disability, and their ability to show leadership.”