Cannes Film Festival Responds to Looming Workers Strike: We ‘Need to Come Together Around the Bargaining Table’

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent One day after the “Sous les écrans la dèche” collective, made up of freelance festival workers, issued a call for a strike during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, organizers have issued a joint statement where they encouraged all parties to “come together around the bargaining table.” The statement, signed by the Cannes Film Festival as well as parallel sections Directors’ Fortnight, Critics’ Week and ACID, said they acknowledge the “difficulties faced by some of their staff” due to a reform of the “French unemployment insurance scheme,” and that they “hope that solutions will be found.” The organization is protesting against a looming labor reform that will see their unemployment indemnities slashed by more than half.

The org brings together hundreds of workers at festivals, from projectionists to drivers and caterers, who are threatening to strike during Cannes which could potentially cause major disruptions.

France has a unique system which allows freelance workers within the film and TV industries to receive benefits during their unemployment periods.

These benefits are only accessible to those who have worked a certain number of hours in the year. The French government is preparing to introduce a new decree on July 1 which freelance workers fear will raise the required number of hours that they must complete in order to seek unemployment benefits.