Bungled Sydney Water payroll rollout leaves workers underpaid

Sydney Water is facing stop-works from more than half its employees after multiple unions moved to take industrial action over a bungled new payroll system rollout that has left hundreds of workers owed thousands.Unions say the new Dayforce system that was rolled out in July has consistently paid workers late or failed to pay penalties and overtime, leading to financial distress among members.Members from the Australian Services Union (ASU), Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and Professionals Australia (PA) moved to take actions such as work bans and four-hour stoppages on a rolling basis.This week, ASU members, including at least half of the 3,000 staff employed by Sydney Water, have committed to not chasing up unpaid water bills, not providing access to contractors on capital works projects, or driving on motorways or tollways as part of industrial action.Members from across three unions at the state-owned corporation have voted for industrial action. (ABC News: Xanthe Gregory)ASU secretary Angus McFarland said members knew the Dayforce system was not equipped to factor in the variety of allowances and penalties hundreds of employees depended on."A huge bulk of their income is from those arrangements that they rely upon for rent payments, mortgage payments, child support payments," Mr McFarland said."Failure to provide regular and reliable pay is causing severe stress to our members.""We're actually at this point now where now we're facing October and it still hasn't been fixed."Mr McFarland said the union was calling for the old payroll system to be re-instated and emergency payments to be made to affected workers.He also said the union had taken the issue up with the Fair Work Commission, the Fair Work Ombudsman and the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.A spokesperson for Sydney Water said the utility had apologised to employees who had been affected during the rollout."Every effort should be made to pay employees correctly and on time, and we are continuing to address these issues as a priority," the spokesperson said."Dedicated teams are working to identify and correct pay discrepancies, address underlying system and process issues, and reduce outstanding payroll enquiries.""This includes regular reconciliation and remediation payments, additional payroll and advisory resources, and priority system improvements."The spokesperson said employees facing financial hardship could access trust-based payments and other support services.PA, which represents project managers and specialist engineers, says the Dayforce issues have also affected managers who are not sure if their fellow workers will be paid on time."It has cased significant amounts of distress to the workforce who want to simply have a payroll system that they know will pay them accurately and on time," senior industrial officer with PA Kathleen Suddert said.Rollout times with enterprise bargaining negotiationsThe payroll issue came as the state-owned utility has been involved in pay negotiations with the unions since the beginning of this year.Professionals Australia had been arguing to be covered by the enterprise bargaining agreement rather than remunerated under contracts that were evaluated every year.Sydney Water is also facing action from Electrical Trade Union members, who have also taken industrial action against Confluence Water, a Sydney Water maintenance contractor.