I believe it’s a well-known fact that minimum wage workers often face poor working conditions and low pay, and they are exploited by being overworked without fair compensation. When they join unions to advocate for better treatment, employers may humiliate them or retaliate against them. The movie Striking the Palace revolves around this topic where it shows how workers at a fancy, expensive French hotel are treated unfairly. Even though the hotel charges a lot of money for small things, the workers who keep it clean and running smoothly on a daily basis don’t get a fair share of the money, instead, the hotel owners take all the profit. So, tired of the bad treatment, they come together to form a union in the hope of getting better pay and respect. But instead of getting what they need, they face more problems, like police coming to arrest them and stop them from defaming the hotel. Striking the Palace shows what happens when they fight back and whether they win or lose in the end.
Spoilers Ahead
How were the workers treated there?
The movie introduces us Eva, who was a young girl who started working at a luxury hotel as a temp worker to replace Ludivine, who was a worker on strike with others protesting against the hotel’s exploitation. These workers had been treated unfairly for years as they had been working in poor conditions, receiving low wages, and having their demands ignored. When Eva entered the hotel, the other workers did not welcome her properly and whispered that she shouldn’t replace someone on strike, as it was unethical. However, Eva didn’t care much, as she desperately needed the job. After all, she had dropped out of school, had no parents, and was kicked out by her foster family. She’d also been evicted from the motel she lived in for not paying rent, which left her in a tough situation. Eva was assigned to clean rooms, make beds, and do other tasks typical of hotel workers. Simone, an older woman who had been working there for years, showed her how to do the job properly. From Simone’s story, we get to know how she needed the job badly even though she suffered from severe back pain, and even though she supported the union’s cause, Simone stayed quiet about it because she didn’t want to risk losing her job. As Eva worked, she was shocked to see how the hotel charged 9,800 euro per night for a room, yet she earned only 12 euro an hour, so naturally the pay disparity seemed absurd to her.
Outside the hotel, workers like Ludivine were on strike, not even able to eat properly but still protesting in the hope of fair treatment one day. The hotel staff often shamed the strikers, threw water at them, as their protest has made rest of the workers work extra hard to cover for the strikers. Eva began to question the situation but hesitated to join the strike because some workers told her the strikers were just being brainwashed by leftist ideas. The hotel’s strict rules also seemed odd to her, like forcing workers to have black hair or wear black wigs if their hair wasn’t dark enough. Eva also met Safiatou, who was a fellow worker struggling to manage her job, two kids, a husband, and a difficult mother-in-law. Safiatou worked long hours but was but barely paid a living wage, but being a minority and dependent on a work visa, she felt exploited by the hotel. Therefore, eventually, she decided to join Ludivine’s strike, as she could no longer tolerate the injustice. But even though the protestors had been striking for three months, the hotel refused to negotiate and the management didn’t seem to understand that the hotel only operated because of the hard work of its staff. Eva started to realize that the workers weren’t just fighting against subcontracting but were demanding better pay and working conditions. However, the hotel snitched on them, and the police came to arrest the protesters, even though they had the proper permits to strike.
Meanwhile, Simone’s back pain worsened, and her manager, Agnes, noticed it and sent her for a medical check-up even though she knew the risk of Simone being declared unfit and fired. Simone feared this outcome because she needed the job badly, but she was let go despite years of dedicated service, which hurt Eva deeply. Finally, she had had enough after months of staying quiet and being merely a spectator, so in the end Eva decided to go on strike, as she finally realized the importance of standing up for her rights, and became the youngest worker to participate, as she knew it was time to fight for fair treatment.
What was the result of the strike?
As the strike continued, more workers joined in, as they were determined to fight for their rights. Meanwhile, the manager Agnes even mentioned that the second floor of the hotel was out of business because so many workers had stopped working, and it was clear the hotel couldn’t keep going like this, and the hotel finally had to bow down to the strikers, as they should. If you think Agnes was quite strict and tough, she wasn’t a villain you know. She had to follow the strict rules, even though it was hard for her too, as with her management degree, she had to handle difficult situations, keep the workers going, and manage everything, but it was almost impossible without proper support. As Fashion Week approached, the hotel owners realized they couldn’t keep exploiting the workers as they desperately needed them. So, the owners finally agreed to listen to the workers’ demands. The workers wanted subcontracting to stop and for housekeepers to be salaried with better pay and conditions. They also needed the hotel to help with their visa renewals. In the end, the owners were forced to negotiate, and the workers’ demands were finally met as Fashion Week came.
At the end of Striking the Palace, we see that even though the workers’ fight ended well, Eva had a realization as she saw that many of the workers, like Simone, had no other options or future beyond the hotel. While Eva felt proud to have been part of the protest and to stand up for the workers, she didn’t want to end up like them to always struggle for fair treatment as they grew older. So, in the end, Eva decided to leave the job for good and return to her studies, as she hoped to build a better future for herself. Maybe one day, she would also be able to help make life better for workers like those at the hotel as well.
