Civil service, transport, the threat of strike in different sectors looms over the period of the Paris Olympic Games.
This Monday, April 15, Emmanuel Macron gave an interview to RMC and BFMTV, almost 100 days before the Paris Olympic Games. The president said he wanted to show “the most beautiful face of France” during the sporting event. However, there are many fears, particularly concerning the risks of strikes. Emmanuel Macron responded on this point that he hoped for an “Olympic truce”. Tony Estanguet, president of the organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, made the same call at the end of February but the response from the CGT in a press release was clear: “No Olympic truce”.
The CGT has, in fact, already filed a strike notice for the civil service from April 15 to September 15, therefore including the period of the Olympic Games. It concerns the three branches of the civil service (State, territorial and hospital), i.e. all civil servants. The CGT is demanding “long-term recruitment, salary compensation for professional constraints generated by the Games, rights to leave, chosen teleworking and disconnection”. La Force Ouvrière, the second union representing the public service, also filed a strike notice at the beginning of March extending over the period of the Olympic Games. Conversely, the CFDT and the UNSA did not call for mobilization.
The government has, however, promised bonuses ranging from 500 to 1,500 euros for civil servants mobilized during the Olympics. The question also arises among firefighters and municipal police officers. If the Sud-Solidaires firefighters union has already filed a strike notice for the entire period of the Games, this does not concern Paris or Marseille, because the firefighters of these two cities are military personnel and are therefore not unionized.
The threat of strike also affects the transport sector. The CGT has already submitted a strike notice to the RATP from February 5 to September 9, but nothing has yet been decided on the SNCF side for the moment. Patrice Vergriete, the Minister for Transport, however assured France Inter that he was not worried. “I do not believe for a single moment that workers, employees and unions will jeopardize the image of France or their company in the eyes of the whole world,” he justified.
For air traffic, there should be no hindrance. The first union of SNCTA controllers has already committed not to call a strike between now and September 2024.
