For the third consecutive day, the Eiffel Tower will remain closed on Wednesday February 21 due to the strike by SETE (Eiffel Tower Operating Company) employees, who criticize its financial management, confirmed to Agence France- Press (AFP) the CGT and FO, the two unions representing the staff.
“We are determined and we have the impression that they are taking it lightly”summarizes Nada Bzioui, FO union delegate, while the social conflict bogs down between management and the two unions. “And I would be surprised if it was open tomorrow [jeudi] »she emphasizes.
This conflict, which had already led to the closure of the Iron Lady on December 27, the centenary of Gustave Eiffel’s death, occurs in the middle of the winter school holidays, and five months before the Olympics (July 26-August 11). .
The unions criticize the Town Hall for being too greedy
On Tuesday, the negotiations came to an end, the request of the two unions to obtain an interlocutor at the Town Hall, ultra-majority shareholder (99%) of the SETE, having not been heard. The representatives of the approximately 360 employees of the monument also ask to be able to consult the amendment to the public service delegation contract (DSP) which runs until 2030, the subject of their fundamental dissatisfaction. This amendment, which provides for a 20% increase in ticket prices, must be validated next May by the Paris Council.
The two points of contention are the fee paid by SETE to the Town Hall and the works budget for the rest of the DSP. The unions criticize the Town Hall for being too greedy, with “exponential increase in its fees, from 8 million to 50 million euros per year”, when management assures that it will decrease by 51 million compared to what was planned in the initial contract. According to Nada Bzioui, management explained that it “will not touch the fee because the Town Hall needs it, nor the PCI (contractual investment plan) because we cannot put in extra money”.
The economic balance of the Eiffel Tower, which in 2023 returned to higher attendance than it was before Covid-19, with 6.3 million visitors, was weakened by some 120 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 additional bill – around 130 million euros – for additional costs of renovation work, mainly linked to the current painting campaign, complicated by the discovery of traces of lead.