Workers picket over personal care home payroll problems

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This article was published 09/04/2025 (202 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Support workers at Extendicare personal care homes picketed outside one of the sites Wednesday afternoon to draw attention to problems with a payroll system.

More than 40 grievances have been filed over the problems, Canadian Union of Public Employees 2180 local president May Quinto said outside Tuxedo Villa Personal Care Home on Corydon Avenue.

Extendicare Inc., a for-profit provider, introduced the WorkDay payroll system to Manitoba sites in 2023.

Company spokeswoman Laura Gallant said Extendicare modernized systems to meet the complexities of the more than 250 collective agreements involving employees at various sites.

It has resulted in pay errors, incorrect calculations for benefits such as sick days, shift premiums and leaves, and inaccurate seniority lists, the union said.

A health-care aide at Tuxedo Villa for the past 21 years, Quinto said support workers are fed up with worrying about their pay and benefits every two weeks. Affected workers represented by the union local include aides and maintenance staff.

“These workers work hard, they contribute above and beyond, so they deserve to get paid properly,” said Quinto. “We want to ensure that they get every penny for their hard work.”

Gallant said the company has made the issue a priority, including by working with unions, holding meetings and creating an internal team to review records to prevent system issues and to correct any that arise.

“We recognize that for some team members at a subset of our locations, this has resulted in compensation discrepancies,” said Gallant.

“While base pay for regular hours worked has not been impacted, for those affected by any other discrepancy, we apologize and acknowledge the frustration this has caused.”

Quinto said workers need a faster solution, suggesting the company hire an outside auditor to review the system.

“They’ve only been able to address the issue on a case-by-case basis,” she said. “Two years, we’ve been dealing with this, and to us, two years is an unacceptable time frame to fix WorkDay.”

Several dozen CUPE members marched up and down Corydon Avenue in the afternoon, despite gloomy weather.

Quinto said the picket was meant to raise awareness about their concerns and that the union is not mulling a strike or job action.

Affected care homes include Extendicare’s Charleswood, Heritage Lodge, Kildonan, Oakview Place, Maples and Tuxedo Villa sites in Winnipeg, and Hillcrest Place and Valleyview in Brandon, the union said.

Some grievances involve more than 100 workers, CUPE said. Extendicare sites in Ontario have similar challenges, and pickets have been held there, CUPE said.

CUPE represents about 1,200 health-care support workers in Extendicare’s private personal care homes in Manitoba.

— with files from Adam Treusch

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca