There is great frustration among tourists in Paris who stand in the drizzle at the closed entrance to the Eiffel Tower. No queues as usual, but illuminated signs saying in different languages: “The Eiffel Tower is closed due to a strike, we apologize”.
For the fourth day in a row, the landmark, which attracted 6.3 million visitors last year, is inaccessible. Instead, dozens of Eiffel Tower employees demonstrate loudly at the foot of the structure in the morning. 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 demonstrators allege that rust is eating away at the Eiffel Tower, while the city is making millions of dollars from ticket sales and saving money on maintenance. “It has been standing for 135 years, but for how long?” reads one of the banners. “Milk cow Eiffel Tower,” says another poster that shows the mayor of Paris milking the tower.
“The strike will continue until the city satisfies the workers,” said the head of the CGT union, Sophie Binet, to the protesters. “This mobilization is in the general interest because it is about ensuring that the Eiffel Tower has the resources for a long-term future.” The income from the Eiffel Tower easily allowed for reasonable maintenance without having to cut corners on staff. Around 360 people work on and on the tower. Binet personally called on Mayor Anne Hidalgo to negotiate with the employees after the operating company initially turned a deaf ear to the protests that began on Monday.
New paint for the Eiffel Tower?
Specifically, it’s currently about the Eiffel Tower’s new coat of paint. Gustave Eiffel’s important advice that the tower should be painted once every seven years, then it would last forever, was no longer followed, is an accusation. That’s why rust is now causing problems for the Eiffel Tower; the condition is worrying. The more than 130-year-old tower not far from the Seine was built for the Paris World Exhibition and completed in 1889.
“The building is in very good condition,” emphasized the mayor’s first deputy, Emmanuel Grégoire, in an interview with France Info. “The city supports the Eiffel Tower, it is its crown jewel,” he said. “It is an exceptional tourist monument and like all monuments it has been hit by the Covid crisis, it is 130 million euros in financial losses for the Eiffel Tower and the City of Paris has never failed in its duty and its support to the operating company.”
The city helped the municipal operating company with 60 million euros. How much of the current income the city collects is currently being renegotiated. The regulation criticized by the unions was made in 2017 before the Corona crisis.
Losses during the corona pandemic
The city denied that it had simply delayed the Eiffel Tower’s 21st coat of paint since it was built. First there was a maintenance break during the corona pandemic and then toxic lead was discovered when old layers of paint were removed. This temporarily stopped the work – it involves the application of 60 tons of paint. The CGT boss said the city needed to take into account the additional costs this would cause. There is fundamentally no objection to the fact that money flows into the city coffers from operating the Eiffel Tower.
As the operating company SETE announced, the contract with the city, which runs until 2030, is currently being revised. The intention is to reduce the financial payments to the city in order to take into account the loss of income during the corona pandemic and the additional costs of renovating the building. In addition, admission prices should be increased by 20 percent. Employees should be involved in overseeing the financial regulations and should also receive an assurance within two weeks that their working conditions and pay will not be affected, said SETE President Jean-François Martins. It was not yet clear in the evening whether this would end the dispute at the Eiffel Tower.
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.
