Worker shortage in Red Deer becomes acute

The Canadian Press reported yesterday that the Couche Tard Chain is going to great lengths to recruit workers in Red Deer.

Faced with a labour shortage in Alberta, Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX:ATD.B) is recruiting in Ontario and the Maritimes for its convenience stores and is offering enticements such as apartments and regular flights back home to job seekers.
The Quebec-based convenience store operator is also offering potential employees the shared use of a car and the possibility of winning a cash prize, the annual meeting was told Wednesday.
CEO Alain Bouchard told shareholders these incentives are paying off.
He said Couche-Tard has been able to keep its doors open at night and on Sundays while its competitors have been forced to close down for those shifts due to a lack of staff.
"Our competitors are closing early," Bouchard said. "We're not."
Couche-Tard pays $9 hourly in Quebec while it pays staff $12 to $14 an hour in Alberta.
Bouchard said Couche-Tard executives in Alberta had to find other ways to attract and retain staff.
"They are recruiting in places where people are looking for work, such as Toronto, and they offer an apartment, shared use of a car, regular flights home and participation in a lottery for cash awards."
The hot Alberta economy, he said, has a down side.
"The economy is so strong right now that casual wages are sky-high and the labour pool is empty," he said, adding that out-of-the-ordinary solutions needed to be found.
Although the labour shortage is most acute in oil-rich Alberta, many sectors of the economy in other parts of the country are also finding it difficult to find workers.
According to the latest monthly figures from Statistics Canada, the national unemployment rate was just 6.0 per cent in July, the lowest since 1974.
Couche-Tard operates more than 5,500 convenience stores throughout North America, is aiming to nudge the 6,000-mark in fiscal 2008.
The company has said it intends to build 60 stores and purchase approximately 250 others throughout the year.