The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics seems to be in for certain disruptions. Earlier, hundreds of dancers who were to perform at the ceremony tomorrow, that is, 26 July, had planned to go on strike to protest against wage disparities. However, after negotiations with the SFA-CGT, organisers of the event, the dancers managed to strike a deal and have accepted a revised pay offer. Represented by a union, the 3,000 dancers had been seeking a hike in pay and had been protesting the inequalities in pay. After negotiations, the lowest pay will now fall in the range of $150 to $260 more for the performers. Some of these dancers had stopped amidst rehearsals recently, holding their fists in the air for eight minutes in protest.
While the performers have been pacified, a union representing airport staff in Paris has called for a strike tomorrow. The Force Ouvrière (FO) has rejected the bonuses offered for airport employees post negotiations with Aéroports de Paris (ADP) group recently.
The union is demanding that the €300 bonus be increased to €1,000. It is asking for some other hikes in selective bonuses, not just in terms of the bonus amount but the number of employees eligible for the same. The union—which represents 11.5 per cent of employees employed at the Orly and Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airports—is dissatisfied with the outcome of the negotiations.
The ADP, however, feels that the strike call will not have any major impact on flights.
France has witnessed several strikes and protests by workers in the public sector ahead of the Olympics, seeking pay revisions and bonuses for working during the Olympics, which falls during summer vacations. Municipal staff and police personnel have been granted one-off payments of up to €1,900 for their services during the event. Thousands of participants will be seen sailing down the River Seine on boats as part of the ceremony.