Names marked with an asterisk have been changed to protect identities.Paris, France – When Moussa*, an undocumented construction worker, joined a wildcat strike at the building site of Paris’s Adidas Arena in the early hours of October 17, 2023, he was hoping the protest might lead to him getting the papers he needed to travel home to Mali.
Since arriving in France in 2019, having first boarded a boat from Algeria to Spain, Moussa, 25, has not taken a single vacation. After his grandparents died during his time away, he felt an urge to return and mourn with his family.
For eight months, he worked at the arena, which has 8,000 seats and was being prepared for the 2024 Summer Olympics. More than 400 construction workers operated at the site.
He was compensated with normal pay slips by using someone else’s papers – a common strategy among undocumented workers. He was paid about 75 euros ($85) a day for gruelling 10-hour shifts at the arena – a rate, he said, that did not include transport expenses, masks or other protective gear.
Moussa’s bid paid off.
The workers occupied the site before dawn, blocked it off, and then negotiated all day. By the evening, they had a deal. Advertisement
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