The meeting has been demanded by the unions since 21 December as well as "a real timetable for negotiations". But the management of the Centre Pompidou said on Tuesday that it had "nothing new" to communicate at this stage. "We hope that the new minister, who says she wants to fight for culture, will be able to listen to the staff and become fully aware of the crisis situation that Rima Abdul Malak has left unresolved," Nathalie Ramos, secretary general of the National Union of Museums and Estates CGT-Culture, told AFP.
Questioned at the RTL grand jury on Sunday, Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, also called on Rachida Dati, who has been appointed to rue de Valois, to urgently take up the Pompidou case, where she said she should make "her first trip", believing that the new Minister of Culture is "expected around the corner".
On Monday, the last day of a major exhibition on Picasso, striking workers, supported by their counterparts from other museums and cultural sectors (Cluny, Picasso, Orsay, BnF, Arc de Triomphe, INRAP, etc.) distributed leaflets to raise public awareness, according to Ramos. The staff of the institution, also known as Beaubourg and home to one of the most important museums of modern and contemporary art in the world as well as a library frequented by students, fear for their future.
They are asking for guarantees that the employment ceiling will be maintained and that their missions will not be outsourced during the closure of the site, which was inaugurated nearly half a century ago and is due to remain closed until 2030 for major asbestos removal and restoration work. They are also worried about the "dispersal of collections", especially abroad, during the museum's closure. Some of them went on strike on 16 October, causing the Pompidou Centre to close for around twenty days, its doors were closed daily during the Christmas school holidays.
Agents voted overwhelmingly again to strike at the last general assembly on Thursday. At the beginning of January, the inter-union union (CGT, CFDT, FO, Unsa, SUD) extended the strike notice until 15 February.