“Due to the strike action by a category of staff, the Eiffel Tower is currently closed
,” says a bright red warning banner pinned to the website of the most visited paid monument in the world.
At the origin of this renewable strike, the CGT and Force Ouvrière unions denounce
“the current management which is leading the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (Sete) straight into the worst difficulties”
.
In question, an economic model considered
“too ambitious and untenable”
imposed by the Paris City Hall, the ultra-majority shareholder with 99% of the company's capital.
On the occasion of the centenary of the death of Gustave Eiffel, on December 27, the staff unions had already sounded the alarm and blocked the building for a whole day.
With 6.3 million visitors the previous year and a
“summit ticket”
for adults at 29.40 euros, the Eiffel Tower should nevertheless display solid financial health.
In 2022, Sete's turnover reached 106 million euros, unheard of since 2014. But in reality, the building has still not recovered from the Covid crisis and its virtual absence of revenue. , which generated a deficit of around 120 million euros over 2020 and 2021. The 60 million euros reinjected at the time by the City of Paris will not have been enough to put the ship back afloat.
Monument in danger
A complicated situation to which is added a progressive increase in the fee paid by Sete to the City.
This increased successively from 8 million euros from 2018 to 2021, then to 16 million euros in 2022 and
“should quadruple to reach 50 million euros: a sum far too high compared to the costs of the work”
, Force Ouvrière union representatives
explain
to Le Figaro .
Enough
to “seal the company’s accounts”
.
“The contract for the exploitation of the monument signed in 2017 provided for low royalties until the Olympic Games so that Sete could finance the necessary work before the Olympic Games, followed by a solid catch-up
,” they continue.
But that was without taking into account an
“undervaluation of works budgets”
coupled with an
“overvaluation of revenues based on annual attendance targets of 7.4 million visitors”
, say the unions who are now demanding
“a serious reassessment of the costs of the work and a downward review of the fee”
in order to obtain a
“viable and realistic economic model”
.
Except that
“the Town Hall is very firm on this and absolutely wants to recover its stake, even if it means sitting on the work and postponing it until after 2030…”
, they regret.
Concerns and consensus
And it is up to the Iron Lady to suffer: despite the 128 million euros invested since 2019,
“many points of corrosion are visible, symptoms of a worrying degradation of the monument”
, note the union representatives, for whom the means mobilized
“do not ensure the sustainability of the monument”
.
If Sete does plan for a 20% increase in ticket prices to compensate, the
“basic model has not been changed”
, deplored a CGT representative to AFP.
Jean-François Martins, current president of the board of directors of Sete and former deputy for tourism and sport of Anne Hidalgo, is refraining for the moment from responding to requests from Le
Figaro
,
“in order to conduct social dialogue calmly”
.
A meeting between union representatives and management is taking place this Monday afternoon to find common ground.
An amendment to the public service delegation contract could see the light of day by the summer.