Quebec’s lack of mechanics in the garages

Photo JEAN-FRANCOIS DESGAGNES
The mechanics of the region face a significant shortage of engineers.

Martin Lavoie

Friday 6 oct 2017 00:00

UPDATE
Friday 6 oct 2017 00:00

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The garages of the Quebec city region are facing a serious shortage of engineers and men of service which require them to hire more labour from Mexico and South America.

Photo Jean-François Desgagnés

“This is a growing problem for the past five years, and it goes into a major issue. The next three years are going to be difficult to go through,” says Jean-Guy Roy, Group managing director of Desharnais, who manages five workshops.

“I may be able to hire eight mechanics tomorrow morning and they would work full-time”, he adds.

Although difficult to quantify, the shortage affects the whole of the trades of the workshops. But it is felt most cruelly in the mechanics.

Photo Jean-François Desgagnés

“I looked for someone for years, but a good mechanic, there is no such”, observes Jean-Marc Morissette, owner of the mechanics Workshop, Cape town-Health. “At the end, I was even willing to give up units to be of interest to someone. Young people don’t want to get dirty and don’t want to do the 8 to 5,” says the garage owner, which is finally determined to use his garage alone.

Immigration

The season of tire changes will be initiated. A company like Desharnais needs of 40 to 50 men of service for each of these periods, which last about two months. But the workers of the sectors of earthmoving and swimming pools aren’t enough to meet the needs.

“We are working more and more to recruit labour from outside the country. On longlines, such as Mexico, or foreign students who are looking for a side job, to make tires. It shows them the business,” says Mr Roy.

“Four years ago, I have seen two requests from South America and five or six of France to come and work in garages here. This year, there have been thirty applications from South America and 15 or 20 of France,” says Patrice Lemire, managing director of the parity Committee of the automotive services industry, in the region of Québec (CPA).

Photo Jean-François Desgagnés

Jacques Maheux, CAA Quebec, is responsible for services to garages recommended. It is in contact with 427 workshops on the four corners of Québec and judge that the shortage affected the whole of the province. “The foreign workers, it is a trend. It is rendered here. It’s going to take us in the world that entered Quebec.”

“Some garages outside of major centres are called upon to close or come together because of the shortage”, he says.

A proposed provincial law imposing a ratio of a maximum of two apprentices to one mechanic in a garage is another problem that hovers in the air. The workshops of Quebec already at the limit of the ratio will be essential to find a companion to fill their needs and will not be able to appeal to an apprentice.

Photo Jean-François Desgagnés

The compensation

There are six CPA which divide the territory of quebec. They shall determine by decree the conditions for minimum pay by job category and involve themselves in the training. So it is with the figures as Patrice Lemire, CPA, Quebec, is the basis for asserting that the greater Quebec city region is one of the hardest hit by the shortage.

As a result, businesses in the region need to pay more of their employees. “On average, the salaries paid in Quebec are $ 2 to $ 4 higher than in the other regions of the province, including Montreal,” said Mr. Lemire.

The CPA Quebec had fixed the minimum wage of a journeyman (mechanic) class A – the highest – 22,61 per hour in 2016 (see table). But, on average, companies in Quebec pay 30,94 $. It is $ 1 more than the average paid elsewhere in the province, according to the data of the other CPA.

For a apprentice 4th year (the last step before you can become a companion), the CPA Quebec has set the bar at $ 15.61 per, while the average in Quebec is 20,48 $, 3 $ more than what is paid on average in other regions. According to Patrice Lemire, 95 % of the garages of Quebec have salary levels in excess of the decree.

But the decree does not sufficiently reflect the reality according to Jean-Guy Roy. “It discourages young people to specialize in our field. There are many enthusiasts of the car, but for these reasons they will turn elsewhere. It is fueling the shortage. This is a very demanding, but if the worker compares to that of another field manual, he is paid 15 to 20% cheaper.”

Photo Jean-François Desgagnés

Scarcity: timing

Although the merchants are the hands and feet not to as the customers experience the effects of this shortage, the price and time frame are likely to climb as the period of the change of tires has begun.

Jean-Guy Roy, the Group Desharnais, is reassuring. At this time, the problems of labour do not result in an increase of the invoice paid by motorists. However, he acknowledges that, for the making of an appointment, the “schedule is less open.”

“I have the impression that the time (in the industry in general) will be higher and higher to repair the vehicle,” says Patrice Lemire, CPA Quebec. The advanced technology of the vehicles to ensure that repairs are more complex. And as for the mechanics of well-trained are more and more rare, these two phenomena combine to increase the number of returns to the workshop after repairs executed poorly.

Photo Jean-François Desgagnés

Learning

The training is one of the points that come to the top of the list to explain the problems affecting the sector. The vehicles are more complex, the training more difficult and candidates are less numerous.

“The burden of training falls to the businesses, regrets Mr. Roy. If you want to have skilled mechanics, it is necessary to invest more in training. The other hand, young people at school have been direct in other subjects as manual work, and it has created a shortage at the start of there.”

If the training is a headache for garages, it is also for the CPA Quebec. “Previously, there was a waiting list to attend an automotive mechanics in Quebec city. Now, they take a little bit everything that moves”, ahead of Patrice Lemire, allowing us to hear as well as the quality of applicants is declining.

If 10 years ago, 50 % of new applicants had a PPG, the rate has plummeted today to 28 %. The level of difficulty of the DEP is one of the reasons explaining this phenomenon, according to Mr. Lemire. “It is comparable to a college diploma in civil engineering. The management of the electricity in the automobile of today demand an intellectual level high enough.”

The sector must, therefore, populate it with workers who have not studied in the field and to find ways to interest young people. The industry, with the assistance of the sectoral Committee on labour of the automotive services and Employment Quebec, tries to find the axes of solution.

Mr. Lemire states that five projects are on the table in Quebec, a DEP in mechanics of heavy vehicles of 1800 hours in total, offering 900 hours paid in the workplace, instead of 100.

And if for the time being, the immigrant workers are called to work principally as a man of service, garages de Montréal began to offer training in mechanics.

Photo Jean-François Desgagnés

Early expensive

The initial investment and continuous training are two other factors which ensure that candidates are less likely to head towards the auto mechanic.

“An electrician has a bag of screw driver that is worth around $ 125 and as soon as he is a journeyman in his field, he will win 25-28 $ an hour. A mechanic pushes a box of tools that is worth on average 20 000 to 25 000 $ and win in beginner 20-22 $ an hour, it is the market price that we can pay now”, explains Jean-Guy Roy.

“And the electrician will not be required to take training in the evening as our mechanics must do to hold on to the page in an area where the industry is evolving rapidly,” adds Mr Roy.

Photo Jean-François Desgagnés

Flight

If the industry is trying to train its workforce, it remains that one does not become a mechanic overnight. How companies manage they day to day?

“We’re starting to see notices of research, tells the story of Jacques Maheux, CAA. Some garages are willing to give 1000 $ to the one that they will recommend a mechanic who will remain at least a year. We had never seen it.”

And phenomenon on the increase, the garages offer the best wages to mechanics, workshops competitors. “This is amazing. I hear weekly stories of theft to employees.

It creates friction (in the industry). This is a phenomenon that is just going to increase because there are more mechanics, especially of the good”, concludes Patrice Lemire, who did not hesitate to call the shortage problem in the area of “of concern”.

Photo Jean-François Desgagnés

Wages in 2016

Jobs

Minimum Quebec

Average in Quebec city

Difference with other regions

Mechanic class A

22,61 $/hour

30,94 $/hour

+ 1$

Apprentice 4th year

$15.61 per hour

20,48 $/hour

+ 3 $

*Source: joint Committee of the automotive services industry, in the region of Quebec