EPMU national communications sector industry organiser Joe Gallagher said NZ Post had been sold a "dog" of a system.
"We had workers overpaid, underpaid, not paid, you name it, we had it. We had instances where people got significantly large amounts and occasions where they were paid minus amounts."
Gallagher had heard of team leaders paying for their employees' groceries and petrol to cover pay problems, while others had faced the possibility of mortgage defaults.
"It's quite distressing when you're mucking around with people's lives."
Almost two years on, the state-owned enterprise was only just beginning to see improvements, he said.
All of this happened long after the contract for Novopay was signed, but it still raises serious questions around Taelnt2's competence. It also invites some pretty stiff questions about how much the government knew about these problems, and what (if anything) Talent2 told them. Was Ministry of Education aware of the problems in NZPost? Was Talent2 deceptive? If either is the case, then heads have to roll.
But what's really worrying is the demonstrated timeline for fixing things: two years. I don't think teachers or the public are going to put up with that.