The party is ruined. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the season for weddings, cocktails and banquets is compromised. The catering “extras” anticipate a catastrophic 2020 year. These service and kitchen professionals, hired for the day on a fixed-term contract, in particular by caterers, find themselves without a safety valve once their employment center rights have been exhausted. For the third time in a few weeks, 400 people demonstrated this Tuesday morning at the Invalides. They are asking for state support, like what has been done for intermittent workers in the entertainment industry, with the freezing of the count of their days of compensation until the resumption of activity.
The butlers fear to switch to the RSA in a few weeks. " The calendar of events is empty until the beginning of 2021, " notes Alexis Cabajo, team leader. " Our profession will be devastated, it will be a real cemetery ", denounces the one who is also secretary general of OPRE (Organization of catering staff in events). “ Our professionalism is one of the hallmarks of catering in France. We must not be forgotten, ” he concludes.