Okay.
COVID-19 created extreme challenges for our business from the outset, especially for the safety and needs of our employees and customers. It is our responsibility to help maintain the supply of food and medication to Canadians, one that we assumed as we kept stores and distribution centres open while ensuring employee and customer safety. We kept our people employed and even hired close to 1,200 additional staff from other non-essential organizations.
We quickly made personal protective equipment available and implemented health checks for our employees. In stores, we limited the number of customers, reduced third party supplier visits, added front entrance greeters to control traffic and provided hand sanitizers and clean shopping carts. We increased sanitization throughout. In only one week, we installed plexiglass shields at all checkouts in about 600 supermarkets throughout Quebec and Ontario. We facilitated social distancing, providing employees with “keep your distance” t-shirts, and much, more more. To address surging online demand for delivery, we added new delivery windows to increase our online grocery capacity and better serve the people in our communities who need it the most.
Whenever we encountered a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 in either our stores or distribution centres, we acted swiftly, according to a strict protocol endorsed by public health, to inform our employees, deep clean the facility and monitor the situation closely. As panic buying increased, our store and distribution centre employees worked extra hours, taking on new and unfamiliar tasks. I am extremely proud of their commitment and sense of duty in stepping up for customers at the peak of the pandemic. Together we made an immense undertaking, all within a few short days and weeks, and we did it without any financial assistance from the government. At all times, safety and speed—not potential cost—were our primary concern.
To acknowledge the additional work and new tasks performed by its teams at the height of the pandemic, Metro provided a temporary premium of $2 an hour to 50,000 employees in its stores and distribution centres.
The truth is simple. We made an independent decision to implement safety measures and provide a temporary wage premium, in the same way that we make decisions in all circumstances. We take into account the information available in our environment.
In the case of the current crisis, our decisions took into account measures implemented by governments, public health and other major employers in Canada, the United States and elsewhere, including other grocery chains, the Retail Council of Canada and union partners.
On the basis of all the information available, on March 21, we announced the start of the temporary premium. We were careful to specify that this measure would end on May 2. This temporary premium came on top of the wages established by collective agreements negotiated in good faith with our union partners over the past decades. The temporary premium was then extended twice, from April 18 to May 30, and from May 22 to June 13.
Here's the note that we sent to employees on May 22:
In this context of a gradual return to normal, we will continue to pay the temporary wage premium of $2 an hour provided to employees in METRO's grocery stores and distribution centres until June 13, which is two weeks longer than planned.
As an additional form of acknowledgement, on June 12, we announced a $200 premium for full-time employees and a $100 premium for part-time employees, the equivalent of two weeks of additional premiums.
In full compliance with the Competition Act, I asked my counterparts whether they planned to maintain the temporary wage premium. They told me that they had not made a final decision. In any event, these calls were part of a much broader decision-making process and merely provided a rationale for our decisions on when or how to end our temporary premium.
We made all our decisions independently. There was never any agreement or collusion among competitors.
We made the decision to end the temporary wage premium independently and in response to the gradual return to normal customer shopping behaviour and business volumes, following the surge we experienced from March through May.
When the committee considers the decisions we have made about the wage premium, it must apply the same standards to Metro as it has to other retailers, many of whom have also discontinued wage premiums, some before us. Others have simply not offered a bonus.
I think Mr. Meinema from UFCW raised an interesting point on Monday, that it was odd that only Canadian grocers were invited to appear today, which does not take into account what happened in the industry as a whole during the pandemic, particularly with our non-unionized American competitors.
Our revenues have certainly increased but so have our expenses. We took them on because they were justified and necessary. As customer shopping habits and business volumes gradually return to normal, we will continue to pay for many of these new expenses, particularly those related to health and safety.
In conclusion, I would like to add that Metro is proud to have contributed to ensuring a safe supply of food and pharmaceutical products for its customers during the crisis.
I again thank all our employees for their professionalism and dedication throughout the pandemic. We truly have a great team.
In closing, I want to congratulate and thank all our employees, our affiliated stores and our pharmacist-owners. Throughout the pandemic, their outstanding professionalism and dedication have enabled us to meet the needs of the public. We have a truly extraordinary team.
Thank you.