The Société des alcools du Québec will provide a thousand cell phones to allow its employees to check clients’ vaccination passports as of January 18.
Two devices will be sent to each SAQ and SQDC branch by next week. These will be programmed so that only the VaxiCode Verif application can be used.
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SAQ spokesperson Linda Bouchard affirms that the distribution of cell phones aims to ensure “compliance” with the application of the new measure, which will prohibit unvaccinated people from coming to buy alcohol and marijuana in their establishments.
The phones, she emphasizes, will be rented from the PME Électrobac, which specializes in recycling electronic devices.
The spokesperson was not able to quantify the cost of the measure, since it will depend on the duration of their use.
On the union side, it is specified that this is an initiative of the employer. “They told us from the start that they were going to provide us with tools to check the immunization status of clients,” says Lisa Courtemanche, president of SEMB-SAQ. “It was not one of our demands,” she adds.
The union says it is rather worried for the safety of its members, who will have to prohibit access to unvaccinated clients.
The SEMB-SAQ calls for the presence of a security guard in each establishment, but the employer has only offered around 100 of the 400 or so SAQ branches.
“For us, this is an issue,” says Lisa Courtemanche, who is worried about the reaction of certain customers who will be denied access.
As for the SQDCs, at least one security officer has already been stationed at each establishment since their opening in 2018.
The spokesperson Fabrice Giguère explains that the agents will have the mandate to validate the vaccine passport of the customers from next week.
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