The Eiffel Tower will not open for the 5th consecutive day, assures the CGT

Europe 1 with AFP // EVERT ELZINGA / ANP MAG / ANP via AFP 12:03 p.m., February 23, 2024

The Eiffel Tower will remain closed on Friday, its fifth consecutive day of closure, the CGT union delegate assured AFP on Friday morning, the inter-union meeting in a general assembly to decide on the follow-up to the movement.

The Eiffel Tower "will not open" on Friday, assured Stéphane Dieu, the inter-union being awaiting a "writing from the City", owner of the monument and ultra-majority shareholder of the Company of exploitation of the Eiffel Tower, Sète.

If it were to continue beyond Sunday afternoon, this strike would be the longest in the recent history of the tour, regularly punctuated by social movements.

In the fall of 1998, the Iron Lady was kept closed for six and a half days.

The inter-union (CGT and FO) met in a general assembly on Friday morning to decide on the follow-up to the movement, after the opening of negotiations on Thursday and a meeting deemed "constructive" by the president of Sète Jean-François Martins. 

READ ALSO - 

The Eiffel Tower on the verge of a financial crash?

Its agents go on strike a few months before the Paris Olympics

“Strengthen dialogue with the city”

The employees of the most famous tourist site in Paris criticize their employer for its financial management and also blame the town hall, which they accuse of asking for too high a fee which would hamper the room for maneuver on the works budget and ultimately, recruitment and remuneration.

This movement has deprived of visits since Monday the thousands of tourists, mostly foreigners, who flock there every day.

On Thursday, Sète proposed “the creation of a permanent monitoring body” of the financial trajectory “in order to strengthen dialogue with the City” of Paris.

Above all, “an agreement will be signed within fifteen days” regarding the “conditions of employment and remuneration” of employees, affirmed Sète.

However, the latter had not made any salary demands, saying they were fighting against the “untenable” economic model imposed by the town hall.

This conflict, which had already caused the closure of the monument on December 27, the hundredth anniversary of the disappearance of its architect Gustave Eiffel, occurs in the middle of the winter school holidays and five months before the Olympic Games (July 26 - August 11). .

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 130 million euros in shortfalls. win during the two years of health crisis (2020 and 2021).