So, here's what happened when I got back from my afternoon run. Once everyone finished their runs, we all got called into the lunch room. Union organiser, 3 levels of managers and the owner were all present. Owner went on at some length about the unexpected software problem, how it wasn't really anyone's fault, and that failure to make other arrangements was an oversight (that was as close as we got to an apology) He then went on to say that “at great expense to the company” they had arranged an out of sequence interim payment so everyone would be paid on time after all. The fact that this was done “at great expense to the company” was reiterated 4 or 5 times throughout the talk, but the crux was that we would be getting paid on time. After the talk, we all filed out to go home. The manager who initially told me we wouldn't be getting paid was waiting by the door and said as I walked past “I don't know why you had to go the union, no one else was making a big deal and we could have sorted something”. I just raised an eyebrow and kept walking. Probably half our staff are ESL, and I doubt they have a real firm grasp on their rights at work, and they probably would have just gone along to get along. I don't know how the other half were talking it, but I doubt I was the only one complaining. But the important thing is everyone's getting paid.
And you better believe I put the extra 45 minutes on my timesheet.