On strike again, a few hundred technicians working on the sets or post-production of series and shows gathered on Friday in Paris to demand a “20% for all” increase in wages, noted an AFP journalist. “Audiovisual 20%, otherwise nothing on your screens”, could we read on a banner hung in front of the headquarters of Mediawan, a French audiovisual production giant where a delegation was received. “It’s the first time that I have seen so many people mobilized in twenty years of career,” testifies Thomas (who did not wish to give his last name), editor for a company working on Top chef, the culinary competition of M6. “The trigger is inflation,” he emphasizes, under a “Stopchef” sign.
“Who wants to be my partner for 20%,” asks Gaëlle (who also did not wish to give her last name), in post-production on the eponymous show, which demands that “the production companies go knocking the door of chains.
According to the Spiac-CGT, 80 film and post-production teams took part in strikes and walkouts between Thursday and Friday, including those of the Déter series for France Télévisions, Indian Cemetery for Canal or the show Friday, Everything is Allowed for TF1. According to our information, this movement also impacts certain film shoots with days of walkouts organized by intermittent workers.
But the impact of the movement, which began at the beginning of November for one or two days a week, is not being felt at this stage on the channels, with broadcasts often being distant. The unions want to move up a gear and are now pushing for a renewable strike. “The demand for an increase in wages may seem exorbitant, but it is making up for what has been lost,” explains Dominique Robert, co-president of the National Union of Technicians and Workers in Film and Television Production (SNTPCT). There has been no increase in minimum wages since 2007, according to the union organizations.
On the employers’ side, the Union Syndicale de la Production Audiovisuelle (USPA) and the Union of Independent Producers (SPI) assured ten days ago that on December 5 they would make “a proposal to increase minimum wages”, after already two boosts at the start of 2023.