Other Sports: ‘No papers, no Games,’ say workers blocking Paris Olympic arena

PARIS (Reuters) – Workers blocked activity at the construction site of an Olympic arena in northern Paris on Tuesday to press their demands for contracts and French residency permits.

Around 120 workers entered the site at 7am local time (0500 GMT) on Tuesday, saying they planned to stay until their demands are met.

Around 20 of the striking workers said they have been employed on the site of the Porte de la Chapelle arena, which is set to host badminton and gymnastic competitions in the 2024 summer Olympics.

The others said they worked in similar conditions at construction sites across the city.

The Paris 2024 organisers promised the Games would be inclusive and socially responsible and signed a social charter with trade unions and employer organisations in 2019.

However, Arnaud de Riviere de la Mure, trade unionist with the National Confederation of Workers – Worker Solidarity (CNT-SO), criticised the conditions in Olympic sites.

“As usual in construction, there is a chain of subcontracters and in this chain there is misery and exploitation,” he said, speaking over the wall from inside the occupied site.

He said all the workers taking part in the action have been informally employed as subcontracters by Bouygues Construction, which could not immediately be reached by email or by phone.

Contacted by Reuters, Paris 2024 organisers said they were collaborating with the labour inspectorate to ensure the protection of all those on Olympic sites.

The workers are demanding their employer provide them with documents to allow them to obtain a legal residency and work permits.

“No papers, no Olympic Games,” the strikers’ statement said.

Simbala Sibebe, 33, a worker from Mali, speaking by telephone from inside the arena site, said he was sent to work on the site, amongst others, over six months painting and filling walls, and was paid 60 euros ($63.28) per day.

He said was employed under an alias using another person’s identity documents by Peinture 3000, which CNT-SO said is a subcontracter of Bouygues Construction.

Peinture 3000 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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(Reporting by Layli Foroudi; editing by Barbara Lewis)