Alberta legislature. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

"payroll chaos," says AUPE

New provincial pay system leaves government workers underpaid

Jan 17, 2021 | 3:46 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A new pay management system at the Government of Alberta (GOA) is reportedly leaving at least some workers underpaid.

The province started using a system called 1GX in December.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Service Alberta says they have received 531 reports of payroll issues “during this support phase of this large-scale transformation.” AUPE had claimed the number was much higher than that.

Regardless of the exact number of employees who have been impacted, AUPE Vice President Susan Slade believes it is a sign of “incompetence” within the provincial government.

“I know the UCP government likes to blame the federal government for all its woes, but this time it seems to have decided to mimic the problems created by Ottawa’s Phoenix payroll system,” she says.

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“Our members are angry and rightly so. This system was introduced before it was ready and there was inadequate training for workers or managers. It is clearly incapable of handling the complexity of a large, complex workforce with members working a vast variety of different jobs and different shifts.”

Among AUPE’s 90,000 members, approximately 20,000 are directly employed by the GOA.

“This is the result of top-down, management incompetence and workers are paying the price,” says Slade. “It’s a slap in the face to all these employees who are working on the front lines of a pandemic and economic crisis. They should not have to fight to get the money they are owed. They have bills to pay and need the money.”

The government spokesperson is “confident” that the issues experienced will not be a long-term concern.

“In the meantime, payments are being made available to impacted staff. Supporting Alberta Public Service staff is our top priority. Affected staff will be paid appropriately. They have been contacted by their managers and are working together with Service Alberta to resolve the issue,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

AUPE was unable to share the email with LNN, but they claim that a “management email to some members about the problems” from January 8 stated that there was no estimated time for when the problems would be fixed.

Staff who believe they have been affected but have not been contacted directly are encouraged to call the GOA Service Desk for support.