What they thought was an ideal job has turned sour for a group of asphalt haulers working on the southeast ring road who say they haven’t been paid in months and are owed thousands of dollars.

To make matters worse, some of the asphalt haulers claim they have been fired for inquiring about unpaid invoices.

“The situation that we have been put into is a complete nightmare. How are we supposed to pay our bills?” said asphalt hauler Will Hollier.

Hollier operates a tractor trailer end dump for his father-in-law Steve Cross, owner of S. Cross Holdings. Cross said he is owed more than $90,000 for his company’s work on the project.

“I think about it all day long. When I get up in the morning that’s the first thing I think about — am I going to get paid today?” said Cross.

The fact the southeast ring road, which was supposed to open on Oct. 1 but remains unopened, is nearing completion is especially worrisome, said Cross.

“The job is winding down, that’s why we’re the most concerned,” he said. “We have no recourse at all to go after our money.”

While Chinook Roads Partnership is ultimately responsible to the Alberta government for the $769-million project, the asphalt haulers are at the bottom of a long line of subcontractors and Cross said he’s unsure who is responsible for the delayed payment.

Cross said the independent asphalt haulers are subcontracted to Holly’s Transport, who writes their cheques. He said Holly’s Transport supplies the trucks for Northwest Lands, who in turn works for Lafarge, who works for Chinook Infrastructures who is subcontracted to Chinook Roads Partnership.

Cross’s truck, which is operated by Hollier, has been working on the paving project since June 2012. While payment was initially on time (approximately 35 days after a month of work, as is standard in the industry) cheques were gradually distributed later and later, according to Cross.

Payment for his August and September invoices are overdue, said Cross, noting he last received a cheque for the project in September (for July work) and all told, he said he is owed $92,000 for ring road work done in August, September and October.

Cross said he isn’t alone and estimated nine independent owner/operators who worked as asphalt haulers on the project are owed a total of more than $800,000.

On Nov. 1, Hollier said he and three other haulers staged a short strike at an asphalt park in Shepard, refusing to work until they received an answer on when their invoices would be paid. Eventually, a Lafarge employee told the workers they would be paid the coming week and the men returned to work, according to Hollier. Two days later, all four workers were fired, by Holly’s Transport, via text message, Hollier said.

“We started off with 10 regular trucks and progressively as everyone was asking questions they were fired. It culminated with the four of us, who have been there probably the longest, being fired,” Hollier said.

Hollier, who has a two-year-old daughter and another child on the way, said he’s now looking for work and has applied for EI.