In the eyes of Prime Minister Legault, the labor shortage is a very different phenomenon depending on whether we are talking about the public sector or the private sector.
While schools and hospitals no longer know how to find replacements — or even simply retain their staff — he seems to see no problem in recruiting thousands of workers for the future battery factory that Northvolt will build in McMasterville, whose upcoming arrival transported him with joy. He already saw his name in the history books, along with René Lévesque and Robert Bourassa. In Quebec as in Ottawa, everyone seems to have contracted battery fever.
According to Mr. Legault, the salaries that will be offered at Northvolt will be so attractive that people will scramble to be hired there. Moreover, he always maintained that the labor shortage was an excellent thing for workers, since it gave them the upper hand against employers. Except for public sector employees, it seems.
In a situation of full or almost full employment, it is unfortunately necessary to undress Peter to dress Paul. This is why we had to draw on daycare staff in order to staff the 4-year-old kindergartens dear to the Prime Minister. To companies that fear losing their employees seduced by this new El Dorado, Mr. Legault responds that they simply have to increase their productivity to be able to offer competitive salaries.
Governments are planning various programs for this purpose, but competing with a giant as heavily subsidized as Northvolt will nonetheless constitute a major (if not impossible) challenge for an SME, however dynamic it may be.
It is true that in all eras, the modernization of the economy has taken its toll on those who have not been able to follow the parade. We can’t stop progress and making an omelette has always required breaking eggs, right?
Despite this collateral damage, it is very possible that a massive investment of public funds in the battery sector would be advantageous for Quebec. We will only really know in several years, but it is already significantly more promising than the 10 billion which were to be swallowed up in the third link.
Certainly, it is annoying to have to comply with the conditions imposed by the generous incentives of the American Inflation Reduction Act and to have the feeling of being faced with a fait accompli. Nothing could convince the Legault government to reverse course, but not all those who struggle with projects like that of Northvolt are imbeciles.
However, there is no collective benefit to stripping public services by encouraging state employees to turn to the private sector or move to another province where they will be better paid.
The Prime Minister repeats to anyone who will listen that the creation of wealth is not an end in itself, but a means of offering better services to the population. However, we have the unpleasant impression that the more the wealth gap with Ontario decreases, the more public services deteriorate.
To those who were outraged that the deputies of the National Assembly voted for a 30% salary increase, Mr. Legault replied without laughing that it was normal for elected officials to want to be better paid. But he seems to find it abnormal that state employees do not want to become poorer.
He rejoiced at the thought that workers could leave a $20-an-hour job to earn double that at Northvolt, thanks in part to taxpayer dollars. But rather than a 100% increase, the government is offering 9% over five years for working in a hospital. Find the mistake !
The president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, did not seem to be moved when she learned that 18.5% of civil servants from the Ministry of Education and 16.2% of their colleagues from Health had left their jobs on last year. It’s not very motivating to think that your employer doesn’t care whether you stay or not.
Northvolt will certainly make every effort to attract the employees it needs. The small Swedish town of Skellefteå, which hosted the company, is delighted. The mayors of McMasterville and Saint-Basile-le-Grand seem just as willing to roll out the red carpet for him.
Public sector workers are not entitled to this concern. If they decide to strike, we will rush to pass a special law to force their return to work. And if they are not happy, they can always follow the Prime Minister’s advice and retrain in battery manufacturing.