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Photo: Villette Pierrick / ABACAPRESS / IMAGO

Tourists have not been able to go to the Eiffel Tower in Paris for four days due to an employee strike.

Dozens of employees demonstrated loudly in front of the landmark on Thursday, demanding better maintenance.

The accusation was that rust was eating away at the Eiffel Tower while the city was making millions of dollars from ticket sales and saving money on maintenance.

“It’s been standing for 135 years, but how much longer?” read one of the banners.

“Milk cow Eiffel Tower” was the slogan on another poster that showed the mayor of Paris milking the tower.

Unlike many strikes, the employees are not interested in a wage increase; rather, they are demanding better maintenance of the attraction, which Parisians affectionately call “dame de fer” (“lady of iron”).

"The strike will continue until the city satisfies the employees," said the head of the CGT union, Sophie Binet, in front of the protesters on Thursday morning.

"This mobilization is in the general interest because it is about ensuring that the Eiffel Tower receives the means for a long-term future." Binet called on Mayor Anne Hidalgo to negotiate with the employees.

Specifically, it's currently about the new coat of paint on the Eiffel Tower.

The demonstrators accuse the city of no longer following Gustave Eiffel's advice that the tower should be painted once every seven years, then it will last forever.

That's why rust is now causing problems for the Eiffel Tower; the condition is worrying.

The city denied this, saying there had been a maintenance break during the corona pandemic and then lead was discovered when old layers of paint were being removed, which temporarily stopped the work.

The CGT boss said the city had to take into account the additional costs this would cause.

In principle, there is no objection to the fact that money flows into the city coffers from the operation of the Eiffel Tower.

"The building is in very good condition," emphasized the mayor's first deputy, Emmanuel Grégoire, in an interview with the France Info broadcaster.

“The city supports the Eiffel Tower, it is its crown jewel.” The city helped the municipal operating company with 60 million euros.

Worry about the Olympics

Five months before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris, the strike at the Eiffel Tower is raising concerns about wider protests that could paralyze the city and the Games.

Last weekend, a rail strike slowed down traffic in France and further disruptions have been announced for the coming weekend.

And the workers in the already overloaded metro in Paris have already announced the possibility of a strike for the entire period of the Olympic Games.

The Eiffel Tower is one of the most visited monuments in the world, with 6.3 million visitors last year.

During the Summer Olympics in July and August in Paris, it is expected to attract even more visitors than usual. This year, the Olympic medals are decorated with hexagonal metal pieces that come from original parts of the Eiffel Tower.

They had been replaced during renovation work and were previously gathering dust in a warehouse, unused.

kim/dpa/AFP