The Eiffel Tower seen from the Trocadéro esplanade, February 22, 2024 (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
The employees of the Eiffel Tower, on strike for five days to contest the economic model of the site and to worry about its “degradation”, ended their movement on Saturday, paving the way for the reopening to the public on Sunday of the emblematic monument, one of the most visited in the world.
The staff obtained to be associated “from next week” in a “direct dialogue with the Paris town hall” relating to the “general economic model” of the tower, and therefore voted to end the strike “at the unanimously”, indicated in a press release the CGT-FO inter-union of the monument.
The reopening will only be effective on Sunday morning, while the technical team restarts the elevators for a “safe reception”, the unions stressed.
The end-of-strike agreement provides that “the parties will regularly review the economic model” and the work to be carried out in the tower, “through a body which will meet every six months”, specified for its part the management of the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (Sete).
These meetings should in particular allow the monitoring of the new contract which will link Sete and Paris town hall in the future, as part of a public service delegation.
Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, in the center, with striking employees of the Eiffel Tower, in front of the monument in Paris, February 22, 2024 (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
This document, an amendment to the current contract, must be submitted in May to the Paris council. It provides for a 20% increase in entrance fees, a return to financial balance “from 2025”, and 145 million euros in additional investments for maintenance work on the monument, including the continuation of the 20th operation aimed at completely repainting the tower, inaugurated 135 years ago.
– “Emotional attachment” –
“To ensure that these commitments are properly met, employee representatives want to make sure they can take a look at them regularly, which is not an illegitimate request,” the president of the company commented to AFP. la Sete (and elected Parisian) Jean-François Martins.
This conflict, which resulted in six days of closure, comes after “three complicated years” for the approximately 360 employees, noted Mr. Martins: the Covid-19 crisis then major works “generated concerns, and this required undoubtedly explanations on this new amendment, which allows us to regain confidence in the future,” he added.
“A phase of dialogue is taking place, we will see what it produces,” commented Stéphane Dieu, the CGT union delegate, for whom this conflict is partly explained by the “emotional attachment” of employees. to the tower and their “pride” in working there and defending it.
In its press release, Sete “renewed its apologies” to the approximately 100,000 visitors who have “found the doors closed” since Monday. These will be “automatically and fully reimbursed as soon as possible,” she said.
If it had lasted beyond Sunday afternoon, this strike would have been the longest in the recent history of the tower. In the fall of 1998, the monument remained closed for six and a half days.
An employee on strike at the Eiffel Tower, in front of the monument in Paris, February 22, 2024 (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
The ongoing conflict had already led to its closure on December 27, the hundredth anniversary of the disappearance of its architect Gustave Eiffel.
The economic balance of the Eiffel Tower, which in 2023 returned to higher attendance than it was before the Covid pandemic, with 6.3 million visitors, was weakened by some 130 million euros in shortfalls. win during the two years of health crisis (2020 and 2021).
To cope, Sete was recapitalized to the tune of 60 million euros in 2021. But to the loss of revenue was added an equivalent slate (around 130 million euros) of additional costs of renovation work, mainly linked to the current painting campaign, complicated by the discovery of traces of lead.
© 2024 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends using the buttons below.
