Undocumented workers construct 2024 Paris Olympics

Illegal workers were discovered to be working in constructions sites of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The French newspaper Le Monde discovered last week that there are a number of undocumented immigrants involved in the establishment process of the Olympics setting. 

In its report, Le Monde stated that the Athletes Village, which will receive about 14,000 athletes and club members in two years, was built by at least a dozen undocumented migrant workers in the Paris suburb of St. Denis, north of the city.

The report interviewed a few of these construction workers for the Athletes Village, and they disclosed that they are underpaid and overworked without contracts or vacation time. The majority of these migrant laborers are of Arab, West African, Portuguese and Turkish ancestry, and they were contracted to perform a variety of labor-intensive activities like digging, mixing concrete and laying bricks.

Le Monde met the 42-year-old Malian worker Moussa, mentioned only by his first name to avoid losing his jobs, who receives €80 every day, whether he leaves at 5 a.m. or 9 p.m. He is undocumented and has spent 13 years in France, choosing not to take the chance of pursuing his rightful claim. “We're here to survive, we have no choice, even if things didn't turn out the way we wanted, we're not going to give up," he said.

Unionist Jean-Albert Guidou, from the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), told the French publication that the subcontracting firms should be blamed for violating the rules. Earlier, seven Malians were found to be working illegally for a subcontractor when the French labor inspectorate looked into construction sites for the Olympic Games.

According to Mille World, this report has also reflected the human rights concerns surrounding the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It has been alleged that more than 6,000 migrant laborers, mainly from South Asia, have died while constructing stadiums for the games. Unlike Qatar, which brought the migrant workers for the purpose of building stadiums, many of the undocumented workers in France have been residing and working there without documentation for at least ten years or longer. Both sporting events serve as reminders that owners won't think twice about hiring and abusing migrants for much lower wages while powerful corporations and politicians remain silent.

It is worth mentioning that on June 9, another investigation was conducted to find numerous illegal immigrants working on the Olympic Village's building sites. As a result, the public prosecutor's office in Bobigny has initiated a preliminary investigation into “disguised work” and “employment of an untitled foreigner in an organized gang,” according to Nova Agency.