CGT Spectacle union files strike notice for Olympic opening ceremony

Union representatives denounce the recruitment conditions of “250 to 300 intermittent dancers” out of the 3,000 who will take part in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A union defending performing artists (SFA-CGT) has filed a strike notice for July 26, the day of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, to protest against “glaring inequalities of treatment” between the artists recruited for the show.

“We regret to have to announce that we are giving notice of a strike for the show on 26 July and for the upcoming rehearsals for the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games.“On August 28, the union (representative and majority in the sector) announced in a press release, which depends on the CGT-Spectacle.

The union says it has “alert”Many times, “Paname24, the executive producer of the ceremonies, of contractual practices not in accordance with the collective agreement” (artistic and cultural enterprises).

Asked by AFP, a member of the SFA indicated that he estimated that around “250 to 300 intermittent dancers in the show”of the approximately 3,000 recruits for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (OPG), were recruited on conditions “shameful, without compensation, or without knowing the amount of the transfer of neighboring rights”.

The union questions the pay gap “60 euros for intermittent workers in the entertainment industry – previously excluded from collective negotiations – at 1 610 euros for employees who were able to benefit from successful collective negotiations.

“Why are some non-Parisian artists being and will be reimbursed and housed, when the majority of them – the most precarious – will not be, even though they have the same employment contracts?“, he continues. According to him, after a referral to the Olympic Social Charter committee, two negotiation meetings were held with Paris 2024 and Paname24, at the beginning of July, without progress.

Paris 2024, questioned by AFP, responded to take ““The issue of working conditions for people working for the Games is very serious.” “After verification, we were able to note that our service provider Paname 24 strictly complied with the law, by applying the collective agreements applicable to the profession of dancer”, explained a spokeswoman for the Olympic organisers to AFP, arguing “a fee higher than the agreed minimum”.

“We only discovered these provisions once the artists – mainly dancers – showed us their employment contracts and we discovered that some clauses were not normal.”former CGT leader Bernard Thibault, president of the Paris 2024 Social Charter Committee, told AFP, saying he had “alert” on this situation on June 10.

“These are professionals who we know are in precarious situations. We tell them that it is a ‘true’ professional opportunity, but that doesn’t mean that the work done shouldn’t be recognized. Some people will lose money working for the opening ceremony”according to him.

On July 26, starting at 7:30 p.m., some 3,000 dancers, musicians and actors will take over the banks of the Seine and its bridges on a 6 km route from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Eiffel Tower, for an XXL ceremony which is taking place for the first time outside of a stadium.