Public sector workers, including hospital staff, could strike during the Paris Olympics if demands for pay and working conditions are not met, France’s CGT union said on Thursday.
CGT head Sophie Binet told Franceinfo radio that the union would file a strike notice early next month. She said:
We want the government to take immediate measures to ensure the success of the Olympic Games towards which the CGT has been working for years. To achieve that our warnings must be heard. We have been saying the same thing over for months and nobody cares. It’s beginning to be tiring.
She claimed that issues ranging from fairly compensating workers for overtime and waiving holidays to finding extra childcare and paying for accommodation in the Paris region during the Games, when living costs are expected to be very high, needed to be addressed.
France’s interior minister has offered police officers bonuses of up to 1,900 euros ($2,069.86) for working during the games. Binet said:
Why can’t other public sector workers have the same bonuses?…Is there a hierarchy between police and hospital workers? How do you think hospitals will operate during the Games? Millions of extra visitors are expected in Paris and there are no additional means allocated to Paris region hospitals.
Starting in late July – the middle of the national holiday season – the Olympics are likely to increase the strain on the Parisian workforce, which is already experiencing heightened security threats and chronic understaffing in hospitals and on the transport network.
French health workers have for years demanded more hiring and better salaries in public hospitals. Years of cost cuts left medics submerged when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
