In December, images of a “mini” Swan Lake on the forecourt had gone around the world. This Saturday, 200 people from all trades at the Opera, but also from the "Maison de Molière", organized a free concert in front of the Palais Garnier.
They notably interpreted "La Marseillaise" during this happening followed by several hundred demonstrators and onlookers. This new show was organized as part of the protest against the pension reform.
Magic ! #reformationsdesretraites #operadeparis #greve pic.twitter.com/Y6hX1Ab7J2
- Unsa Rail Traction CNU (@CnuUnsa) January 18, 2020Dancers, choristers, musicians and technicians of this institution benefit from a special pension scheme threatened by the government project.
With the Comédie-Française, the Opéra national de Paris is the only cultural institution to have a special regime. It does not concern other provincial opera houses or establishments like the Philharmonie de Paris. This particularism is not new: its origins date back to the reign of Louis XIV.
A strike that is likely to continue
Thanks to this plan, employees of the Paris Opera can retire well before the legal retirement age of 62. The artists of the choir can leave at 50, while the musicians of the orchestra must wait until they are 60. As for dancers, retirement can take place even earlier, from the age of 42. Conditions made necessary by the level of requirement and the consequences of their activity on the body.
This historic strike threatens to continue, for lack of compromise between its artists and machinists attached to their special pension scheme, and the State determined to abolish it.
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In a month and a half of strike action, 67 shows have been canceled, including three performances of the "Barber of Seville" in recent days. A new notice compromises that of Monday.
