WATCH as workers strike at luxury hotel ahead of Paris Olympics — RT World News

Workers at a five-star hotel in central Paris booked by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have gone on strike, the French trade union CGT announced on Thursday, the protest action starting the day before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

On Thursday morning, while breakfast was being served, around 30 chefs, waiters and technicians staged a two-hour protest at the luxury Hotel du Collectionneur.

In a video posted by CGT on the official X (formerly Twitter) account, workers can be seen lining a hotel corridor, demanding a pay rise and social benefits. They held up signs reading “Luxury hotel, starvation wage” AND “There will be no 13th month, there will be no Olympic Games!” The latter refers to the bonus that most employers in France pay their employees at the end of each calendar year. The striking workers also reportedly handed out leaflets explaining their actions to hotel customers in an attempt to drum up support for their demands.

According to CGT, hotel staff have not received a pay rise in seven years and have had five rounds of negotiations with their employer since mid-June. The latest round took place on Wednesday but failed to produce a breakthrough. Media reports claim that staff were offered a 2% pay rise but rejected it as too low, leading to the strike. Thursday’s protest was the fourth such incident at the hotel in the past month and a half.

The union claimed the IOC paid the hotel 22 million euros ($23.88 million) for exclusive use of the facility for the duration of the Paris Olympics, which begin on Friday. The committee is expected to hold several events at the hotel over the next two and a half weeks, and there are reported concerns that further strike action could disrupt planned activities.

In a statement issued late Thursday evening, the hotel management tried to reassure its customers by stating that negotiations with the unions “They are in progress” and that “Our teams remain mobilised and determined to ensure the smooth operation of our services.”

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