Names marked with an asterisk have been changed to protect your identity.
Paris, France – When Mussa*, an undocumented construction worker, joined the Wildcat strike at a building at the Adidas Arena in Paris early on October 17, 2023, he hoped the protest would lead to him getting the papers he needed to return to Mali.
Moussa, 25, has not taken a single vacation, having boarded a boat from Algeria to Spain for the first time since arriving in France in 2019. After his grandparents left and died, he felt the urge to go back and lament with his family.
For eight months he worked in the arena. The arena had 8,000 seats and was being prepared for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Over 400 construction workers were run on the site.
He was compensated with a normal pay slip by using someone else’s paper. This is a common strategy among undocumented workers. He was paid about 75 euros ($85) per day for a 10-hour tough shift at the arena. This is a rate that does not include shipping costs, masks and other protective equipment.
Mussa’s bid paid off.
Workers occupied the site before dawn, blocked it, and then negotiated all day long. By the evening they had made a deal.
After intense debate with Mussa’s employers, the city of Paris, the workers and their unions, a list of 14 undocumented individuals who worked on the site was handed over to the French police department, who handled visa requests to process their documents.
They signed a framework agreement that led to residential permits and health insurance. It was signed by the city of Paris, the Bouigs of the construction company, and several subcontractors.
However, after 18 months, the related documents have not yet been approved. Only one of the 14 people was given a reservation in Paris.
Many undocumented workers are beginning to wonder if the delays are due to design.
“We didn’t just ask for a residence permit and a health insurance card. That’s our right. To this day, we have no right to work in this country,” Mussa said.
Three of the 14 workers and Rafika Ramani, a CNT So union lawyer focusing on expatriate rights, told Al Jazeera they had submitted all the information requested from them over a year ago.
“We have a paycheck. We have everything. We play with the rules. But so far we haven’t even had a single summon,” said Adama*, one of the builders. “I don’t know why the files take so long. I’ve resubmitted them twice.
“It’s like being in a French prison,” Adama added. He sleeps in a room with 11 other people on the eastern suburbs of Montreuil. “If there’s no paperwork in this county, it’s like it’s not worth it.”
Despite these challenges and his long changes in construction work, Adama takes evening classes to learn French.
“That’s revenge.”
In January 2025, CNT-SO, representing construction and cleaning workers, collectively resubmitted 13 documents to the Paris province.
“The files are still blocked despite the fact that I reapplied for these 13 people,” Ramani told Al Jazeera.
She suspects that the lack of response is a form of repulsion. This is because the strike announced poor working conditions in France towards the Olympics.
“It’s revenge,” Ramani said. “For them, [striking workers] I gave it [France] Even if it’s real, it’s a bad image. ”
The project developer and two subcontractors have not responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment, but are allegedly preventing some workers from returning to the construction site.
According to Adama, at least three colleagues have not worked since October 2023. They also rely on charities to subsidize food and housing.
“We have information that the companies that employ them didn’t revive them. It was a disciplinary measure against the strikes they took part in,” Jean François Coulome, president of the left-wing La France Insmeise party, told Al Jazeera. “The strategy is specifically to expel these employees.”
In February, Coulome wrote a letter to the French Minister of Home Affairs through the government’s accountability mechanism regarding the “fatality of files submitted to the Paris province,” demanding “legal normalization of these workers.”
The letter remains unanswered.
“The arena workers’ cases represent a systematic issue, a good example of the fact that these workers are silent. [precariousness] Regarding their management situation,” Colum said.
CNT-SO Union and the so-called Gillette Noir, or Black Vest – the largely undocumented group of immigrants working to acquire administrative regulations and housing rights for French immigrants, was one of the parties to negotiate, and therefore the process sought to promote the process in the city of Paris.
“By walking through the mayor of Paris, we’ve packed some more holes, because they’re intermediaries between our contacts and the province of Paris. We want to know what the situation is.” “Today, the situation is still there. It’s not completely blocked, it’s a bit blocked at the province level.”
Colum suggested that the internal ministry is preventing relevant documents from being approved.
“The province will receive orders from the ministry. So, as far as we are concerned, the Secretary will simply apply the orders of the Minister in charge,” Coulome said.
Al Jazeera contacted the Minister of Home Affairs and the Paris province, but was not given a comment by the time of publication.
Initially, rapid response and negotiation is a typical response when cities are scrutinized prior to major international events, but in many cases there is no follow-through when the hype dies.
“The state of exceptions brought by the Olympics can really be important to exploit the benefits of workers,” Jules Boykov, author of Book Power Game: Olympic Political History, told Al Jazeera. “The key is to lock those benefits while the heat of the Olympic spotlight is still shining in your city. Then it will be much more difficult to use the Olympic moment to make promises to these workers.”
While this could be the best time for people to seek rights, the Olympics and other major sporting events also open the door to exploitation, especially for those in unstable situations like undocumented workers.
“This is another awful example of creating sporting events that claim to use people to benefit many people, but in fact they claim to benefit few.” Boykov said. “The Olympics tend to spotlight what we might call surplus groups. Whether we’re talking about consumable athletes or consumable workers that allow for the Olympic spectacle.”
Ramani said, “All these people came and made a great promise during the strike. These agents and senators promise to come to the demonstration or strike and normalize these workers, but ultimately they say they have no follow-up and they have no strength.”
“This ideology is currently affecting our entire country.”
For years, the French government has strengthened its stance on immigration.
In December 2023, the French Parliament passed a controversial immigration law that distinguished foreigners from those who were not “in employment circumstances.” This measure has made it even more difficult to receive the social benefits of expatriates outside of work.
New regulations are rolling out at work.
According to official figures, between 2023 and 2024, the number of normalized, undocumented workers has been immersed by 10%. Meanwhile, deportation has risen by more than a quarter.
“This ideology is currently affecting our entire country and means we are taking a completely utilitarian approach with the instrumentalization of the immigration issue,” Coulomme said.
On the ground, Dams said Gillette Noir observed the same phenomenon.
“The political situation in this country regarding immigration and foreigners is becoming more and more complicated,” Doums said. Still, he insisted that the group would continue to push their rights. “We’re not going to stop there. Even after normalizing 14 people, we’re not going to stop.”
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