Staff at a five-star hotel in central Paris booked by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) staged a strike on Thursday, just one day before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
Around 30 cooks, waiters, and technical staff held a two-hour protest at the luxurious Hotel du Collectionneur on Thursday morning during breakfast service.
In a video posted by trade union the CGT on its official X (formerly Twitter) account, staff members were seen lining a hotel corridor demanding a pay increase and social benefits. They held signs reading “Luxury hotel, poverty wages” and “No 13th month, no Olympics!” The latter refers to a bonus most employers in France pay their workers at the end of each calendar year. Striking workers have reportedly also distributed leaflets explaining their action among the hotel’s customers, in an attempt to gain support for their demands.
According to the CGT, the hotel’s staff have not received a salary raise for seven years, and have had five rounds of negotiations on the matter with their employer since mid-June. The latest round took place on Wednesday, but did not result in a breakthrough. Media reports claim that the workers were offered a 2% salary increase, but rejected it as too low, which led to the strike. Thursday’s protest was the fourth such incident at the hotel in the past month and a half.
The union claimed that the IOC has paid the hotel €22 million ($23.88 million) for exclusive use of the facility for the duration of the Paris Olympics, which start on Friday. The committee is expected to host several events at the hotel over the next two and a half weeks, and there are reportedly concerns that further strike action could disrupt the planned activities.
In a statement late on Thursday, the management of the hotel attempted to reassure its clients, stating that negotiations with the unions “are underway” and that “our teams remain mobilized and committed to ensuring that our services run smoothly.”