Dancers Drop Threat to Strike During Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Dancers Drop Threat to Strike During Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony - The New York Times

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Dancers Drop Threat to Strike During Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Organizers avoided disruption by agreeing to give performers on temporary contracts a greater cut of broadcast royalties.

Dancers in France called off a threat to strike during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris after event organizers met some of their demands, labor unions said on Wednesday.

Thousands of dancers, musicians and other performers are expected to line the bridges and banks of the Seine River on Friday for the ceremony, which for the first time ever is being held outside rather than in an enclosed sports stadium.

Some dancers, angered by disparities in pay, had threatened a walkout, which would have partly disrupted a widely anticipated and high-risk event that will be watched by millions across the world.

About 200 dancers even briefly interrupted a rehearsal on the banks of the Seine in protest earlier this week, standing motionless with their fists raised in the air for the duration of their eight-minute routine.

Labor unions were complaining that about 250 to 300 dancers employed on temporary contracts were being unfairly treated compared with the majority of the production’s dancers, who are full-time employees of dance or ballet companies.

But the S.F.A.-C.G.T. union, which represents artists and performers, said after a meeting with the Games organizers on Wednesday that it had reached a deal on one of the dancers’ main demands: increased broadcast royalties for the temporary contract dancers, who previously were going to receive far less than others.

In a statement, the union claimed a “victory” that was “not total” and said the dancers had agreed to lift their strike threat.

The Paris 2024 Organizing Committee welcomed the outcome, calling the discussions with the dancers “constructive.”

“The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be a unique moment of celebration and unity,” the committee said in a statement, “and we are delighted that it will be held under satisfactory conditions for all those involved.”

But the union was unsuccessful in another of its main demands: increased housing and transportation stipends to ease the financial burden of dancers from outside the Paris region.

Labor unions have also worried that dancers positioned on some of the French capital’s rooftops along the Seine are not receiving adequate protection from lead dust that has accumulated there over the years because of erosion, or that was deposited there more recently by the 2019 fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Ghislain Gauthier, the secretary general of the C.G.T.-Spectacle, an umbrella union for cultural and show business performers, said that it was unclear whether the organizers had followed rules governing work sites with risks of lead contamination.

“Normally, an expert laboratory has to come to evaluate the toxicity,” Mr. Gauthier said. “We don’t know if that was done.”

Aurelien Breeden is a reporter for The Times in Paris, covering news from France. More about Aurelien Breeden

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