France: Undocumented construction workers who built Adidas Arena for Olympics remain without papers despite regularisation deal with construction cos.; incl. co. response
It’s like being in prison in France … it’s like if you don’t have papers in this county, you don’t have any value.Undocumented Adidas Arena construction worker
In April 2025, Al Jazeera reported that undocumented migrant construction workers who helped build Paris’s Adidas Arena in the run up to the Olympic Games remain without papers despite promises of regularisation; and that some workers involved in protests for better working conditions have been prevented from returning to the construction site.
The article follows previous reporting of protests due to poor working conditions experienced by undocumented workers at the site, including workers from Mali.
Following the protest, a deal was negotiated with the city of Paris, Bouygues (the construction company) and several subcontractors, and fourteen workers were told their paperwork would be processed, which would grant them residency status and health insurance. However, according to Al Jazeera, the papers have still not been approved 18 months later.
A lawyer for the CNT-SO union “suspects” the lack of response may be a form of backlash for the protests. Some of the workers who have been prevented from returning to the site have lost jobs and housing; at least three now rely on charities for basic living necessities.
We have information that the company employing them did not reinstate them. It was a disciplinary measure against the strike in which they had participated…It’s a strategy of ostracising these employees in particular.Jean-Francois Coulomme, La France Insoumise
Bouygues and the subcontracting companies did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
In April, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Adidas to respond to the article. Its response can be read in full below.