New disillusionment for tourists passing through the City of Lights.
This Tuesday, February 20, the Eiffel Tower, one of the most visited monuments in the world, will be closed again due to the renewal of a strike for the second consecutive day.
The CGT and FO union representatives explained that they had been received by the management of Sete (the Eiffel Tower operating company) without reaching an agreement for the moment.
“Our shareholder refuses to negotiate.
It could still last several days, but I hope we can open a negotiation.
For today, we are at a standstill,” Stéphane Dieu, CGT delegate, said this morning on RMC.
A general assembly must be held this Tuesday morning to confirm the continuation of the movement.
As during their first mobilization in December 2023, employees denounce an economic model that is “too ambitious and untenable” with an “undervaluation of works budgets”, coupled with an “overvaluation of revenue”.
According to the unions, the Paris town hall is guilty of poor financial management of the site and must be “reasonable in terms of its financial requirements in order to ensure the sustainability of the monument and the company that manages it”.
An unsustainable increase in fees
According to the CGT and FO, the health crisis and the closure of the Iron Lady for a year due to the work would have led to a loss of 130 million euros in revenue, making the current economic model “unsustainable”.
The unions also point out the postponement of certain projects due to Covid as well as the advanced state of degradation of the monument despite the renovation work in progress.
Indeed,
the building
repainted almost 14 years ago, instead of the usual seven years, has many visible corrosion points.
“It’s in a state of disrepair, very clearly.
Under the tower, if you get closer, you really see traces of rust.
There are employees who have more than 30 years of seniority, they have never seen this,” lamented Denis Vavassori, CGT union representative.
To remedy this, the union organization is calling for the creation of a “special endowment fund in anticipation of the colossal expenses which will be necessary in the decades to come”.
These demands are being made even though the price of entries, the budget for the works and the amount of the fee collected by the municipality are being renegotiated and must significantly increase within the framework of the amendment to the public service delegation contract with the town hall which runs until 2030. “The Paris town hall picks the pockets of our old Iron Lady.
Paris town hall has almost doubled the fee from 8 to 15 million euros per year in two years and intends to raise it to 50 million euros per year by freezing expenses for seven years,” said Aurélien Véron, door -spokesperson for the Changer Paris group, on social networks.
The Paris town hall is picking the pockets of our old Iron Lady #Eiffel Tower.
Paris town hall has almost doubled the fee from 8 to 15 million €/year in 2 years;
and intends to raise it to €50m/year by freezing expenses for 7 years.
Bad management + threatened sustainability🙄 pic.twitter.com/IWE32bmOVq
— Aurélien Véron (@aurelien_veron) February 19, 2024
The strike, renewable, could continue in the coming days if there is no progress in the negotiations.