The 2024 Paris Olympics got underway with an ambitious, and very lengthy, opening ceremony across the city on Friday night. It was structured on the French Revolution’s principles of liberty, equality and fraternity, but it’s nigh-on impossible to hide the discontent and political turmoil that has gripped the country. Principally, this is due to the stunning victory of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) in the parliamentary elections and Macron’s refusal to acknowledge the Left’s win and appoint a government until after the Olympics. However, the discontent runs deeper, with strikes across the country as workers make use of the one of the most high-profile sporting events to fight back in their workplaces.
Authorities and government officials have been desperately scrambling to reach agreements with a swathe of public-sector workers who have carried out strike action or planned strike action over the period of the Olympics. Workers’ anger was reignited by Macron’s refusal to name a government after the NFP victory in the parliamentary election, with the general secretary of the large CGT unions calling for mass demonstrations and strikes to pressure Macron into ‘respecting the results’ of the election.
Transport workers have led the way after being expected to work significantly more over the games with little to no compensation. Having announced a seven-month strike period across the summer on the Ile-de-France bus and metro networks, drivers working for the RATP company secured bonuses of between €1,000 and €2,500 for their work over the Olympics.
Paris rail workers working for SNCF secured a €95-per-day bonus over the period of the games for 50,000 workers, after a one-day strike in May. They also secured €50 per day per household for childcare costs.
Airport workers called strikes at Paris Aéroport airports, which include Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, over the period of the games, but reached an agreement which gave them a €300 bonus for working during the Olympics. Motorway workers at Autoroutes du Sud and Vinci motorways are also taking to picket lines across the summer over falling staff numbers.
Across sectors and regions
However, the strikes are by no means limited to transport. Rubbish collectors in Paris secured a pay rise and an Olympic bonus after threatening to strike over the games. At the Hotel du Collectionneur in Paris, which is being used extensively by the Olympic committee to house staff during the games, workers have gone on strike demanding a pay rise. They lined hotel corridors with signs reading: ‘Luxury hotel, poverty wages’ and ‘Give us back our social benefits’.
Over 260,000 healthcare workers across the private sector have been on strike in the last month in a row over pay rises and abandoned pay pledges. Emergency workers at Georges-Pompidou Hospital in Paris are on a rolling strike demanding a bonus for all employees working during the Olympics.
Perhaps most high profile of all was the protest staged by performers taking part in the opening ceremony, who refused to take part in rehearsals due to poor working conditions. A strike which would have taken around 10% of performers from the ceremony was called off after the SFA-CGT union reached a deal which secured a rise in compensation for broadcasting rights for performers.
Strikes have not just been limited to Paris either, as the games are taking place at venues across the country. One of the most affected cities is Lyon, which is hosting some of the games’ football matches. Transport workers on the airport-to-city train service and the tram service brought the city to a standstill on Wednesday, with spectators having to rely on buses and cars to get into the city and get to the stadium.
The sheer scale of the strike action across Paris, and France in general, is inspiring and it appears workers have seized the extraordinary coincidence of the world’s attention being on them as the Olympics get underway, and the Left’s shock victory in the election, to advance their fight for fair pay, decent working conditions and respect in the workplace.