Nine months after receiving a $6 million grant from Quebec, the Quebec charging network operator and FLO terminal manufacturer is temporarily laying off 8% of its Shawinigan workforce, it has been confirmed Newspaper the company, Thursday afternoon.
“These are temporary layoffs and we intend to remove the affected employees in the next six months or sooner,” FLO spokeswoman Maude Blouin told the Journal.
The announcement was made to employees at the Mauricie factory yesterday morning.
These job cuts in the run-up to Christmas come just months after FLO was awarded a $6 million grant for a $23.8 million project for a new generation of high-capacity terminals.
“Out of respect for our affected colleagues and for reasons of confidentiality, we are not disclosing the total number. However, I can tell you that this is less than 8% of our workforce,” the FLO spokesperson said.
According to FLO, these “difficult decisions” were necessary for the company to be profitable. The company remains confident that the electric vehicle charging industry will grow in the coming years.
According to Daniel Breton, CEO of Electric Mobility Canada (MEC), there is no need to worry as the acceleration in electric sales continues.
“FLO has a reputation for being extremely reliable. Its new generation of terminals will continue to make them particularly competitive,” analyzed the specialist in the Quebec electrical industry.
Dozens of employees affected
Around 500 people work for FLO and around forty people are affected.
In early November, Le Journal reported that clouds were on the horizon over the battery sector, while $16 billion in investments from Ford were put on hold and a $7 billion project from Honda and General Motors (GM) was canceled .
For his part, Sylvain M. Audette, associate member of the research chair in energy sector management at HEC Montréal, estimated that “a collapse of the market for the production of electric vehicles will be worrying.”