Paris Olympics Faces Turmoil Amid Strike Threats by Workers

Date: 19 July 2024 - 21:55

News ID: ۱۲۹۴۸۷

PARIS (Dispatches) - French trade unionists are threatening to bring chaos to the Paris Olympics as performers filed a strike notice just one week before the opening ceremony, citing low pay and ‘glaring inequalities in treatment’.
Such figures for a ceremony lasting less than four hours have incensed the unions, who say that profits are not being shared with ordinary workers.
Many of the 3000 workers, acrobats and actors who will contribute to the show are working for exceptionally low wages, or even for free, with a union representing the performers saying hundreds of them were recruited under ‘shameful conditions’.
A spokesman for France’s Union of Performing Artists said: ‘At this very moment, dress rehearsals for the ceremonies are underway, and we regret to have to announce the filing of a strike notice for the show on July 26, 2024, as well as for the next rehearsals of the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games.’
It is the latest catastrophe facing Games organizers in the French capital who are already contending with heightened security and environmental concerns, not to mention a French government gridlock after hotly contested elections gave no party a clear majority.
The union has attempted to negotiate with the private firms organizing the Olympics opening ceremony, highlighting ‘questionable practices, glaring inequalities in treatment, and a lack of social dialogue during the preparations for the ceremonies.’
It comes as other unions threaten similar strike action during the ceremony, which is expected to be attended by up to 600,000 people.
The performers’ union is part of the CGT Confederation of General Workers, which represents the largest number of state employees across France, and it has filed a strike notice covering the entire Olympics and Paralympics.
Police trade unionists are being given a bonus of up to £1700 to try and prevent them from withdrawing their labor during the Games.
Games organizers told media: ‘Paris 2024 takes the working conditions of all those contributing to the success of the Games very seriously.
‘We have been in touch with Paname 24, our service provider responsible for recruiting the dancers for the opening ceremony, in order to confirm the level of employment conditions in effect.
‘Paris 2024 and Paname 24 are committed to continuing collective discussions; we are involved in regular dialogue with the SFA-CGT union and have every intention of continuing to do so.’
The threat of industrial action comes at a particularly difficult time for President Emmanuel Macron, who is currently relying on a provisional government following poor parliamentary election results.
His prime minister Gabriel Attal handed in his resignation after Macron’s party lost out but the president requested that Attal stay on to help run the country while parties squabble over powersharing agreements as they try to form a new government.
The strike threats are the latest challenge facing Games organizers in the French capital who are already contending with a terrorist threat and environmental concerns.
Last month, The National cited a counter-terrorism expert as saying that Daesh terrorists have published “detailed” manuals for adapting drones to attack the games.
The Games also comes amid a political limbo, as France is facing a hung parliament as no party or alliance has won the majority of seats.
On Thursday, a police officer was critically injured in a stabbing attack in Paris’ Champs Elysees shopping district, in the latest in a string of unrelated security incidents in the French capital this week.
A soldier was stabbed and wounded by a man armed with a knife at a railway station on Monday. Authorities are also investigating whether a man who rammed a car into the terrace of a cafe on Wednesday evening did so deliberately.