“Why fear today something you so desired?” : in an open letter to the public authorities distributed on Tuesday, the first employers’ organization in the hotel and catering sector in Île-de-France is alarmed by the “anxious communication” from the authorities around the Olympic Games.
“Why order Ile-de-France residents to remain teleworking during the Olympics? On the one hand, our workers cannot do it (as well as many others) and on the other hand, we do not wish to relive a situation which would be similar to that of confinements”, deplores in this letter Pascal Mousset, president of the Île-de-France Hotel and Restaurant Group (GHR). “Why assume that transport will be a problem during the Olympics? A defeatist speech will not win us. Don’t we still have time to imagine alternatives and concrete solutions?” he asks in this letter addressed to the government, the Paris town hall, the region and the prefecture.
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“In general, we would very much like all the authorities that you represent to hold, jointly and severally, a positive and responsible discourse. We cannot be the helpless victims of dissonant and negative discourse,” he continues. Professionals in the sector are also concerned about the delivery conditions of raw materials or the movement of their employees during the Paris Olympics, from July 26 to August 11, but also during the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8, “ in the middle of the school year.
Finally, they are demanding the extension of the opening hours of seasonal terraces until midnight during the months of July and August. “We cannot consider closing our terrace extensions at 10 p.m. when the whole city will be outside!”, they plead, demanding the same treatment in terms of hours as the fan zones. The GHR Paris-Île-de-France has around 5,000 members, making it the leading organization in the sector in the region, ahead of Umih, the leading organization at the national level.
