“Paris Is Relying On Exploitation Of Migrant Workers To Prepare For The Olympics”

…An undocumented migrant from Mali, Sarambounou has lived in France for years, and works in construction. He says he has been forced to work “outside” French labor laws, depriving him of workers' rights. All while he and thousands of others like him helped to build the infrastructure for Paris's upcoming Olympic Games…

“In April 2022, I began working on the renovation of the Pleyel Tower…

Sarambounou said the working conditions at the Pleyel Tower in Saint Denis, a suburb north of Paris, are no different than those he experienced on other construction sites since he began working in the sector in 2019.

Investigative reports and inspections by regulatory agencies have found that Sarambounou's was not an isolated case…

…SOLIDEO, the government body responsible for building and renovating Olympic infrastructure, contracted with commanding companies, which then delegated projects to smaller firm. The Pleyel Tower, for example, was handed over to GCC Group, which delegated it to a smaller French-Turkish company…

Sub-contracting also allows commanding companies to escape responsibility;… In Sarambounou's case, he was not in contact with any GCC Group administrators or engineers; his ties were limited to the executing company…

[The Resource Centre was not able to contact Groupe GCC to invite a response to the allegations; if a response is received in future this page will be updated accordingly]