Businesses may have to slow down their activities after the holidays due to the lack of workers, as many are in isolation because of COVID-19, fear stakeholders from the Quebec business community.
“The more cases there are in the population, the more sick employees we will have, the more absences there will be,” explains Véronique Proulx, President and CEO of Manufacturiers et Exportateurs du Québec (MEQ).
For the holidays, many businesses have slowed down. The real effect of the phenomenon is therefore still barely visible. “When people come back in January, the concern is that there will be several cases and that will force us to slow down production again,” says Mme Proulx, pointing out that manufacturers are already in a situation of labor shortage, with 25,000 vacant positions.
According to her, this situation could increase the pressure on supply chains and make it more difficult to obtain certain products.
The vice-president for Quebec of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) launches a “call for understanding from customers, who will surely suffer additional delays.” François Vincent thinks not only of retail, but also of restaurants. “If you’re missing a cook and two waiters, it can slow down the service,” he says.
Several restaurants have already closed their doors temporarily, either for lack of personnel or to protect their workers from the risk of an outbreak, underlines the communications manager for the Association Restauration Québec, Martin Vézina.
We also fear the worst when construction sites reopen in January. “There is a labor shortage, while we are expecting a record year for hours worked in 2022,” indicates the head of public affairs for the Association de la construction du Québec, Guillaume Houle. If there is a shortage of workers and it is causing delivery delays, it is not welcome. We must limit the spread of the virus to avoid closing the sites at all costs. “
A challenge for trucking
In the field of trucking, the risks of absences due to COVID-19 are added to a new requirement that will come into force on January 15, namely that of being vaccinated to enter Canada, without exception for cross-border truckers .
“We have a considerable rate of vaccinated employees, which exceeds 80%. But there is always a percentage that remains and that could affect our staff, ”explains the President and CEO of the Association du camionnage du Québec, Marc Cadieux.
These problems, coupled with the pre-existing labor shortage, risk causing delivery delays and increased costs of goods, Cadieux said. The organization calls on the federal government to push back the vaccination requirement.
Mme Proulx and Mr. Vincent would like the government to speed up COVID-19 screening operations and improve the availability of rapid tests so that citizens return to work as quickly as possible, as soon as they test negative.
Essential workers
Moreover, the Quebec government seems aware of the effects of the increase in cases on the labor shortage. Health Minister Christian Dubé announced on Tuesday that the period of isolation required for some essential workers, especially in the healthcare field, could be reduced in certain circumstances so that services can be maintained. Several modalities remain to be specified.
The isolation recommended in Quebec is currently 10 days from the sample used for the screening test or from the onset of symptoms. In the United States, the federal public health agency reduced its recommendation this week to five days of isolation, if the person is asymptomatic, followed by five days of wearing the mask in the presence of other people.
“If it’s possible to do this without creating a spread, that’s an interesting element,” said Vincent, of the CFIB, of Minister Dubé’s openness to facilitating the return of essential workers.
Recall that during the first lockdown, the Quebec government established a list of essential services, which included workers from several fields, such as food, transport, manufacturing activities, public security services and the media.