At the Odéon theater, always busy, intermittents worried about their jobs
The statue of the playwright Jean Racine, during the occupation of the Théâtre de l'Odéon by artists and professionals from the world of culture, in Paris, March 12, 2021. REUTERS - Benoit Tessier
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
While cultural venues reopen this Wednesday in France, the Odeon theater will not lift the red curtain tonight.
Temporary workers, mobilized since March, continue to occupy the premises and still demand the extension of the white year and the withdrawal of the unemployment insurance reform which will come into force in July 2021.
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Isabelle Huppert should have played
La Ménagerie de verre
tonight
, by Tennessee Williams, directed by Ivo van Hove.
But as Stéphane Braunschweig, director of the Odeon theater, regretted, "
the conditions are not met for the life of the theater to resume with serenity, both for its staff, for the public and the artists
".
The performances were therefore all canceled.
After the announcement of the reopening of cultural venues on May 19, the director of the Odeon and three other theaters called for the lifting of the occupation.
But the intermittent spectacle and precarious, supported by the CGT, were determined to continue the fight.
Indeed, the closure of cultural venues, the cancellation of shows and festivals due to the Covid-19 health crisis have particularly affected them.
They therefore fear that they will no longer be able to make a living from their profession.
Extension of the white year and withdrawal of the unemployment insurance reform
The intermittent regime concerns 120,000 artists and technicians in France. They are compensated each year provided they have worked 507 hours over 12 months. The “white year” system for intermittent entertainment workers, introduced in May 2020, aimed to extend the duration of compensation for all intermittents until August 31, 2021. On May 11, 2021, they obtained a four months extension, until December, of their unemployment compensation, but are demanding a second blank year to help the recovery of the sector.
They also ask for the withdrawal of the unemployment insurance reform which comes into force in July and which does not take into account, according to them, the specificity of their jobs which alternate periods of activity with short contracts and unemployment.
A mobilization at the call of the National Coordination of Occupied Theaters will take place throughout France on May 22 for the withdrawal of this reform.
The Parisian Odeon theater has been occupied since March 4.
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