Eiffel Tower reopens after six-day closure due to workers’ strike
Eiffel Tower closed
The iconic Parisian monument, the Eiffel Tower, on Sunday (Feb 25) is set to be reopened for visitors following a six-day closure due to strikes. The Eiffel Tower which witnesses thousands of visitors every day and is typically open 365 days a year has been closed for nearly a week, after workers went on a strike in a dispute over the way the tower was managed.
The employees working at the Eiffel Tower walked out, on Monday (Feb 19) amid a dispute over the management of the monument and demanded a salary increase proportional to revenue from ticket sales.
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The workers have also demanded better maintenance of the 135-year-old tower which is reportedly starting to show traces of rust on some of its ironwork.
A report by the French newspaper Le Monde said that the iconic tower has not been repainted for 14 years, rather than the usual seven, while other repair work is also falling behind schedule.
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Deal struck between Eiffel Tower operator and staff
The Eiffel Tower’s operator, Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), said that a deal was struck between the workers’ union and the organisation, on Saturday (Feb 24), “under which the parties will regularly monitor the company’s business model, investment in works and revenue through a body that will meet every six months.”
As both sides aim to balance their books by 2025 they have also agreed to invest around 380 million euros ($412 million) up to 2031 toward maintaining the tower, said the SETE in a statement.
The strike came after the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) union said that workers had decided to strike over the Eiffel Tower operator’s business model.
Also Read |Eiffel Tower topped pre-Covid visitor numbers in 2023
The powerful French union claimed that SETE’s model was based on an inflated estimate of the number of future visitors and an underestimation of the cost of maintenance and renovation of the Eiffel Tower.
The strike that began less than a week ago was the second walkout in two months ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games this summer which will be hosted in the French capital city of Paris.
Impact of strikes on visitors
According to the Eiffel Tower’s website, the Parisian monument hosts approximately seven million visitors per year and around 25,000 people every day. The strikes also led to thousands of cancellations of tickets which tourists book months in advance.
Also Read |Eiffel Tower closed as staff go on strike
SETE extended apologies to visitors, who booked their tickets months in advance, caught in the strike action which reportedly led to the loss of some 100,000 admissions. The operator said visitors who bought tickets between February 19 and 24 will get refunds.
Last week, Paris deputy mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said extended closures during the COVID-19 pandemic deprived the landmark of 130 million euros ($141 million) in revenue.
(With inputs from agencies)