Key sections of the opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games were in jeopardy on Friday after a performing artists union announced a boycott of the extravaganza along the river Seine on 26 July unless organisers cleared up discrepancies in contract deals.
Around 3,000 dancers, musicians and actors will take to the banks of the river Seine and its bridges as part of the gala in which 10,000 athletes will be ferried six kilometres in a flotilla of vessels between Pont d'Austerlitz and the Pont d'Iena.
The Syndicat français des artistes interprètes (SFA) says around 300 people had been signed up for the Olympics and Paralympics on different deals to the majority of the performers.
And despite repeated requests for answers and revamped arrangements from the recruiting agency Paname 24, the SFA says it will tell its members to pull out of next week's show as well as the opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games on 28 August.
"We regret to have to announce filing a strike notice for July 26 as well as for the upcoming rehearsals for the opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games," the union said in a statement.
"We proposed an open discussion to find solutions acceptable to all, within the time constraints linked to the approach of the ceremonies," the SFA added. "But to date, Paris 2024 and Paname 24 seem to be playing for time, by not scheduling any new meetings."
Prestige
The gridlock comes as large swathes of the capital have become no-go zones for cars and unauthorised pedestrians as temporary stands are constructed for opening ceremony next Friday evening.
Traditionally, the event has been a single site spectacular. Paris organisers floated the idea of an array of venues at the handover ceremony following the Tokyo Games.
And the organising committee eventually anointed Thomas Jolly as artistic director for the spectacle after they opted to take the ceremony outside a stadium for the first time.
"Out in the city, we'll be able to have 10 times more people involved compared to an opening ceremony at the Stade de France," said Paris 2024 organising committee boss Tony Estanguet.
And despite revising the figures from initial projections of 600,000 to around 400,000 people, Estanguet and his lieutenants have bugled the originality of the exploit.
"We, the cohorts of actors, dancers, acrobats at the opening ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, are keen to take part in a ceremony of celebration," said the SFA.
"And yet, while the slogan: “Faire mieux ensemble” (Doing better together) is being displayed everywhere in the streets of Paris today, we note that our conditions of employment have not been discussed together, nor for the better!"
The SFA says some artists from outside Paris are being offered expenses for lodgings when fellow performers on the same contracts will not receive cash for housing costs.
Deals
The union is also angry that money given to artists for the recording and broadcasting of their performances, range between €60 for occasional workers in the entertainment industry to €1,610 for employees who have benefited from successful collective negotiations.
A spokesperson for the Paris 2024 organising committee, said the issue of working conditions was taken very seriously.
"Paname 24 complies with the dancers' collective bargaining agreements," the spokesperson added. "Fees are said to be even higher than the conventional minimum.
“After verification, we were able to ascertain that our service provider Paname 24 has complied strictly with the law, applying the collective agreements applicable to the profession of dancer.”
On Tuesday, Paris airport workers called off a strike that would have disrupted travel just ahead of the Olympic Games after unions reached a deal with airport managers ADP.
Workers helping with Olympic delegations and their baggage will get bonuses, ADP bosses said.
Along with the capital's train stations, ADP-operated Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports will be the main gateways into France for foreign visitors to the Olympics, as well as athletes and their equipment.
