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Workers go on strike at five-star Paris hotel where IOC members are staying for Olympics

Staff were on strike at the five-star hotel where members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are staying on Thursday, July 25, 2024, the day before the opening ceremony for this year's Olympic Games in Paris. (Michel Spingler / AP Photo, File) Staff were on strike at the five-star hotel where members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are staying on Thursday, July 25, 2024, the day before the opening ceremony for this year's Olympic Games in Paris. (Michel Spingler / AP Photo, File)
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Workers went on strike Thursday at the five-star hotel in Paris where members of the International Olympic Committee are staying, walking out just a day before the opening ceremony of the Games.

According to the major French union CGT, the IOC paid the hotel where staffers were striking, H么tel du Collectionneur, 22 million euros (US$23.88 million) for exclusive use of the facility.

The Paris division of the CGT posted a video on social media appearing to be from inside the hotel, showing around a dozen staff lining a corridor. Employees held signs reading, 鈥淣o 13th month, no Olympics!," 鈥淟uxury hotel, poverty wages鈥 and 鈥淕ive us back our social benefits." Many companies in France pay their workers a bonus in December known as the 鈥13th month."

The CGT said the employees were demanding a pay increase, having not received a raise for seven years. The strike comes after a fifth round of negotiations failed Wednesday.

A woman who answered the phone at H么tel du Collectionneur said the business declined to comment.

Although a dividend of over 9.5 million euros (US$10.3 million) was given to shareholders this year, the union says the hotel has made no attempt to improve the financial situation of its staff.

In a separate protest, around 200 performers stood along the Seine River on Monday and refused to take part in a rehearsal for the opening ceremony being held Friday, protesting working conditions and inequality in the treatment of entertainment workers at the Paris games.

The protests come as tensions run high following recent legislative elections, putting France on the brink of a governing paralysis 鈥 which, in turn, has sparked further calls for strikes.

Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, called this month for mass demonstrations and possible strikes to pressure President Emmanuel Macron into 鈥渞especting the results鈥 of the election and allow a left-wing coalition to form a new government.

Binet didn鈥檛 rule out strikes during the Olympics. Asked about strikes that could disrupt the biggest event France has ever organized, she said, 鈥淎t this stage, we don鈥檛 plan a strike during the Olympic Games. But if Emmanuel Macron continues to throw gasoline cans on the fires that he lighted ...鈥

CGT has an open call for potential strikes by public service workers from July through September. 

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