Since its opening in 1995, the Montreal organization SOS Vélo has enabled more than 2,000 people experiencing social or professional exclusion to find employment. Its management closed its doors this week, citing financial difficulties linked to the pandemic.
It was, according to the organization’s website, the “first social and professional integration company in Quebec.” Around forty employees still worked there until now.
In a letter sent to its employees this week, SOS Vélo specifies that it has “not been able to reconstitute [son] working capital to get through the off-season”, despite its “efforts to find new financing”.
The company also claims that due to “heavy rain in [cet] summer and the financial after-effects linked to COVID, the season was extremely difficult for the entire bicycle industry across Quebec.
Social economy and ecology
SOS Vélo welcomed employees who had felt disadvantaged by the traditional job market for various reasons, such as mental health problems or criminal records. Most of them stayed there on a six-month contract, alongside a small team of permanent workers. The organization has welcomed 2,076 employees so far.
The company also manufactured and marketed “eco-bikes”, that is to say bicycles designed from recycled parts. It had sold 18,534, in addition to having produced 30,461, according to its website.
At the time these lines were written, the management of SOS Vélo had not responded to the interview request from Dutyand his phone line went to a messaging system.
On Facebook, Internet users deplored the closure of the company and called for solidarity in order to “turn the tide”.
Former employees contacted by The duty did not want to comment on the situation.
SOS Vélo was established in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district.