The strike of Paris Opera employees to protest against “chronic understaffing” ended following a memorandum of understanding signed with management, Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned on Tuesday, December 24. “The strike is lifted and the shows Rigoletto et Playthreatened by a strike notice running until the end of the year, will take place on Tuesday [24 décembre] evening at the Opéra Bastille and the Opéra Garnier »the management of the Opera told AFP.
Strike notice “was lifted [à la] suite [de] this memorandum of understanding and a vote of employees in general meetings in the two theaters”confirmed Régis Cochennec of the Sud Spectacle union who reported “ several advances ».
The strike was started by the employees to denounce a “chronic understaffing” within the institution. The strikers denounced services “bloodless” due to a policy of reducing the number of positions which “brings opera to its knees”according to Mr. Cochennec.
Meet at the ministry at the beginning of January
They got “that 50 positions vacant since 2022 be filled by June 30, 2025 and [qu’]a reduction to five positions of the gap between the employment ceiling of 1,484 positions, imposed on the Opera by Parliament and the “in-house” sub-ceiling which only includes 1,459 full-time equivalent jobs worked”he detailed. This gap was 25 positions until now.
According to Mr. Cochennec, management is also committed to “reinforcement of seven fixed-term positions in the event of work overload and large productions”.
Employees and their representatives also obtained “a meeting on January 8 at the Ministry of Culture, the supervisory authority, from which they intend to request an increase in the employment ceiling”according to this union representative.
Read the decryption: Article reserved for our subscribers Faced with the strike of its dancers, the Paris Opera in turmoil
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