With many people living paycheque to paycheque and constantly waiting for money to hit their bank account, it is a very scary time when the dollars aren’t coming in.
For many health-care workers in Saskatchewan, their bank accounts aren’t as full as they should be as people are going to work and not getting paid.
“Our members are missing hundreds, even upwards of a thousand dollars in some cases on their paycheques, and that is unacceptable,” CUPE 5430 health-care workers president Bashir Jalloh said.
The problem comes from an ongoing payroll system failure.
The AIMS payroll software was initially launched in 2021 to manage payroll, scheduling, human resources and finances for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) — but was quickly switched back to the old system due to issues.
The latest health and medical news
emailed to you every Sunday.
Get weekly health news
Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.
Two months ago, it was relaunched in the province. Since then, CUPE 5430 says the issues are piling up.
The union said health-care workers are coming up on their third pay cycle with the re-launch of AIMS and are fearing the worst.
“The system is set up in such a way that when there’s a problem with your pay you create a ticket,” Jalloh said.
“Sometimes they respond — but it’s usually two weeks, three weeks and people are not getting paid and they’re not getting any response. There is a real apprehension from our members.”
And with people waiting to be paid, frustration is growing.
“We have reached out to the leadership of the SHA; all we’re being told is ‘We are working hard to try and fix it.’ Trying hard to fix it? People have mortgages to pay. People’s cheques are being bounced. We cannot continue this way.”
Even after raising concerns, Jalloh said some workers still aren’t getting what they’re owed.
“There are cases where somebody was short $1,088 and when we raised that issue with the employer, all they did was send a $375 cheque to them.”
“At a time when gas, rent and groceries are getting more and more expensive it is essential that our health providers are getting paid for their work. We need urgent action from the SHA and the provincial government to fix these issues and work to ensure it does not happen again.”
CUPE is calling on the SHA and the provincial government to take immediate action.
Global News reached out to the SHA for comment but was handed off to 3sHealth. It has not yet responded to requests for comment on the issue.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
