The lack of employees forces the Bas-Laurentian company Bois d’oeuvre Cedrico to reduce its activities by 30% to 40%.
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The company thus observed a significant drop in its turnover while the price of lumber exploded.
“We feel dismembered. It’s as if there was a fire and we had no water, that we couldn’t do anything, ”said Denis Bérubé, the president of Cedrico, on Wednesday.
Over the past few months, the company has had to make some tough decisions due to lack of manpower. Three weeks ago the second shift was suspended at the Cedrico plant in Price and at the beginning of May the third shift was temporarily cut off at the Causapscal plant.
“When we are there, it is because we have reached the end of the workforce,” added the president.
To resume full operations in its two factories, the company must hire 40 employees.
To recruit, we do not skimp on the means
On Wednesday, a major offensive was launched to recruit new employees in the region, but also throughout Quebec. The company offers a hiring bonus, a referral bonus of up to $ 1,000 and two days of interviews without an appointment.
“We hope with all that to be able to get back on the road with two shifts at Price and Causapscal,” said Mr. Bérubé.
In addition, in December, the company took steps to recruit foreign workers. But so far, the process has been long and laborious.
“One solution that seems quite simple is to add resources directly to the Department of Immigration because at the moment, files are piling up on desks, delays are getting longer and we don’t have enough people to handle these files, ”indicated Kristina Michaud, Federal Member of Parliament for Avignon-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia.
Help requested
Many elected officials were present at the launch of the recruitment campaign on Wednesday.
Some have called for help from both levels of government to help businesses get out of this crisis.
“The scarcity has turned into a labor shortage, so there must be a strategy on the part of our two governments to counter this major issue,” said the prefect of La Matapédia, Chantale. The way.
With some 220 employees, Cedrico is the most important plant in La Matapedia and the main employer in Causapscal.
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