Paris, France – Beneath a gentle yet persistent rain, a few dozen individuals gathered on Pont d’Austerlitz, the bridge spanning the Seine River, one Saturday in late April, protecting themselves with scarves, hoods, and umbrellas.

Some held signs and banners with messages like “Justice for Amara” and “Amara, a casualty of severe employer onsite safety failures.”

The rally in Paris, organized by one of France’s largest labor unions, the Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT), paid tribute to Amara Dioumassy, who was killed on June 16, 2023, while overseeing a construction project at Bassin d’Austerlitz, aimed at improving the Seine's water quality.

Dioumassy, a 51-year-old father of 12 from Mali, was struck by a truck at the end of his shift.

“We organized this gathering to honor our brother, comrade, and colleague,” said Lyes Chouai, CGT’s union delegate for Sade, the company that employed Dioumassy.

“There were significant safety shortcomings. No pedestrian crossing signs, no traffic control, the trucks lacked reverse alarms despite poor visibility. No one was directing the vehicles,” he elaborated.

Chouai visited the site following the incident.

“I met a young man who told me Amara was one of the first to arrive on site on the morning of June 16. He had bought pastries and shared them with all the workers, encouraging them to take more than one,” he recounted.

“Amara’s coworker was in tears while sharing this story. Amara was always smiling, kind, and generous, a pillar of support for his colleagues and friends. He was a force of nature but always carried an air of gentleness. His family said he was the one everyone turned to, who mediated family discussions and cared for everyone in Mali.”

The 100 million euro ($109m) Bassin d’Austerlitz project, according to the mayor’s office, is designed to store rain and wastewater, preventing it from directly entering the Seine.

Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, has approved a request to commemorate Dioumassy near the site of his death.

“A path in Square Marie-Curie will be named after him,” announced the city of Paris.

Cleaning up the Seine has been a highlight of Hidalgo’s second term.

The city has pledged that the Seine will be clean enough to host open-water swimming and triathlon events during the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

“Due to the Olympics, there were deadlines to meet for projects like this one, aimed at making the Seine swimmable for the Olympics. This led to stress and pressure on workers,” Lyes explained.

Many major Olympic-related projects in the city, including cleaning the Seine, come with labor costs.

Infrastructure projects are outsourced to large construction firms with varying levels of labor law enforcement. According to Nicolas Ferrand, director of SOLIDEO, a publicly-funded firm set up to build the permanent facilities for post-games use, there have been at least 181 workplace accidents, including 31 serious ones, on Olympic-related construction sites.

Accidents and labor rights violations are not unique to Olympics construction, but the stringent deadlines for the games can compromise safety.

Jules Boykoff, researcher and author of Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics, has observed this pattern in several venues, including London and Rio de Janeiro.

“For the city, the Olympics often act like a parasite, imposing various demands including deadlines,” Boykoff told Al Jazeera.

“Deadlines, such as building the Olympic Village, trigger corruption possibilities and worker exploitation to meet those externally set deadlines by the IOC [International Olympic Committee].”

Before the games, the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee and its partners created a “social charter” with social, economic, and environmental objectives, signed by trade unions and employer organizations on June 19, 2019.

The charter vowed to “combat illegal labor, anti‑competitive practices, and discrimination, monitor working conditions, and limit insecure employment.”

“The Olympics Charter, despite its flaws, has improved site safety and traceability,” Gerard Re, confederal secretary of the CGT overseeing migrant workers' rights, told Al Jazeera.

“With numerous subcontractors, some employed undocumented workers. Nevertheless, the charter and a diverse organizing committee helped mitigate effects,” he added. The Bassin d’Austerlitz project, however, was not part of SOLIDEO’s regulations.

“SOLIDEO projects adhered more to regulations and respect for work,” Re noted.

In France, where over two workers on average are killed daily on construction sites as per the latest report from France’s national health insurance system, the added pressure has intensified existing challenges.

“The Olympics tend to magnify pre-existing social issues,” Boykoff said. “There’s a clear trend where host cities use undocumented labor, often exploited due to their lack of leverage.”

France is the fourth deadliest country in Europe for workers and leads the EU in reported workplace accidents, with 560,000 incidents in 2022, as reported by the health insurance system.

“Public services in France have been slashed for years, and this includes labor inspectors. We lack enough inspectors to ensure companies comply with working condition rules. Legislation is also insufficient, especially regarding undocumented workers,” said Re.

In France, 50 to 60 percent of construction workers are immigrants, many undocumented, Re added.

In October 2023, over 500 undocumented workers from 33 companies involved in Olympic construction went on strike, demanding proper immigration documents and legal work status in France. They gathered at Arena de la Chapelle and threatened to occupy more Olympic venues. After negotiations, they successfully legalized their status.

France’s strong history of organized labor has driven some changes, like the Olympic Charter.

“In Paris, the union's power stands out, leveraging the Olympics for their advantage,” Boykoff noted. “Savvy, organized labor increases the chance they will use the Olympics to their benefit.”

However, unions still push for better conditions. At the rally, Chouai said they seek justice.

“We want justice for Amara. Justice means holding the management and multinational companies responsible for their safety failings,” he concluded.