Based on a critical redefinition of the managerial description of organizational transformations, the current situation of health workers in hospitals and in CHSLDs (residential and long-term care centers in Quebec) is interpreted as a labor crisis whose seriousness has been revealed in the current pandemic. This labor crisis, that has been plaguing Quebec for over ten years in the health and social services, has its origins in the introduction of Lean management. Described as “just-in-time flow with reduced labour”, it is part of the industrial rationalization pursuit initiated by Taylorism. By over intensifying work, it generated a major labour crisis in the early 1990s, in Japan itself and in the Toyota assembly plants, where Lean management was developed. This crisis was completely passed over in silence by the gurus and the consultants who have endeavoured to implement it widely. Introduced in Quebec hospitals and in CHSLDs in the early 2010s, Lean management is also leading to a labour crisis here, which first emerged among nurses before spreading to beneficiary attendants. Work overload, compulsory overtime, psychological distress, burnout, resignations, absenteeism and recruitment difficulties are the aspects of a negative self-sustaining process. Based on research conducted with nurses in hospitals and supplemented by careful monitoring newspapers and electronic media, the article will finally address some solution avenues under the angle of wage disparities, recognition and participation in the reorganization of work.