Is the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in danger?

The Olympic Games always have their share of surprises and, today, news has just broken that is bound to cause some headaches for the organizers.

While the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games takes place on July 26, the CGT Spectacle  – the union representing performers in France – has just filed a strike notice.

The union (SFA-CGT) gave this notice to protest the event, citing "glaring inequalities of treatment" between artists recruited for the show.

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"We regret having to announce the notice of strike for the show on July 26 as well as for the next rehearsals for the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games, on August 28," explains the union in a press release, according to Le Parisian.

This notice comes after the union "alerted", on several occasions, "Paname24, the executive producer of the ceremonies, of contractual practices not in conformity with the collective agreement", per French publication 'La Dépêche du Midi'.

According to AFP, the union regrets that around "250 to 300 intermittent show dancers", out of 3,000, "were recruited under shameful conditions, without payment, or without knowing the amount of the transfer of related rights".

The main question concerns the differences in remuneration ranging from "60 euros for intermittent workers in the entertainment industry, until now excluded from collective negotiations, to 1,610 euros for employees who were able to benefit from successful collective negotiation," a member of the SFA explained to AFP.

"Why are some non-Parisian artists paid and housed, when the majority of them – the most precarious – will not be, even if they have the same employment contracts," he questioned to the aforementioned publication. The aim of this notice is therefore to begin a dialogue with Paname24 to improve the conditions of the "250 to 300 people concerned".

A spokesperson for the Olympic Games told AFP: "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 (...) a fee higher than the agreed conventional minimum."

On July 26, from 7:30 p.m., some 3,000 dancers, musicians, and actors will appear on the banks of the Seine and its bridges on a six-kilometre route going from the Pont d'Austerlitz to the Eiffel Tower, for a ceremony XXL which takes place for the first time outside a stadium.

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