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Cannes Film Festival Workers Call For Strike Over Pay Dispute A Week Before Main Event; DEETS
Cannes Festival workers have confirmed their upcoming strike against the organizers over a pay dispute. Better pay packages and unemployment insurance are listed as concerns!
Cannes film festival workers have confirmed their labor strike days ahead of the event!
The group called Collectif des précaires des festivals de cinéma, which translates to The Collective of Precarious Workers at Film Festivals, shared an open letter about its plans with Deadline.
Cannes Film Festival workers' strike
It’s been confirmed from the horse’s mouth that the Cannes workers’ strike over pay disputes will occur after unanimous votes in favor of the community.
“In a context of extreme vulnerability and absolute emergency to protect our work, and after consultation and vote of the members of the collective, we call for a strike of all employees of the Cannes Film Festival and its sidebars,” the open letter reads.
The collective includes 200 French workers from the festival's departments, such as Marché du Film and Official Selection, and workers from other festivals across France. Festival projectionists, press officers, and admin staff will participate in the strike.
Although the time and duration of the strike are unknown, Deadlines report that the strikers are developing strategies after consulting the French Federation of Entertainment, Cinema, Audiovisual, and Cultural Action Unions. 
The exact reason behind the strike
According to the open letter, the workers' primary concern is inadequate pay packages that don’t calculate the scrupulous overtime hours. The second source of contention is the French unemployment insurance program for the workers in the entertainment industry.
Apparently, the insurance is based on short-term contracts, and very few of them are covered under the unemployment benefit when they are in between projects.
“We demand that the organizations which employ us be affiliated to a collective agreement allowing us to be hired under the status of intermittent show business workers and that our positions be integrated into the unemployment benefit system,” the open letter mentions.
Cannes director Jean-Charles Canu tells Variety that the French government has cut down on the indemnities paid to the workers and increased working hours so freelancers can get access to any benefit.
Canu claims these regulations will compel the workers to quit or switch jobs. “They’ll won’t have enough to make ends meet,” he adds.
The Cannes Film Festival 2024 will take place from 14 to 25 May.
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