PARIS — International Olympic Committee honchos received a rude Parisian awakening Thursday at Hotel du Collectionneur, their luxurious, privatized hub for the duration of the 2024 Games. Workers at the five-star hotel went on strike and staged a two-hour protest, disrupting breakfast service and unsettling IOC officials, who are accustomed to unfettered opulence wherever they go. Video posted by the Union Departmentale CGT, which represents the workers, showed a group of chefs, waiters and other staffers lining a hallway, chanting, waving flags and holding signs with messages such as: “Luxury hotel, poverty wages.
” Un débrayage des salariés de l'Hôtel du Collectionneur (Paris 8e) est actuellement en cours. Il s'agit de l'Hôtel privatisé par le Comité International Olympique pour 22 millions d'euros. Les salariés demandent des augmentations de salaires.
— UD CGT PARIS (@UdCgtParis) The UD CGT said employees were demanding salary increases that, in sum, would represent 1/20th of what the IOC paid — 22 million euros ($23.9 million) — to rent out the hotel. All that money went “directly into the boss's pocket,” rather than to workers, the union said.
“Are cooks, waiters, receptionists, technicians worthless?” So, after another round of negotiations on Wednesday left employees unsatisfied, they did what French people do — and what they’ve done especially frequently leading into the Olympics. “We can't wait for the workers of the world to di.