Louvre Faces Fresh Test As Weigh Strike After Jewel Heist and June Shutdown
Paris : Workers at the Louvre Museum in Paris will vote on Monday to go on strike or continue talks with the government, after months of mounting pressure on the world’s most visited museum, which unions describe as “in crisis”.
Hundreds of employees will gather behind closed doors in the 500-seat auditorium of the Paris landmark, where unions will present the results of recent talks with Culture Minister Rachida Dati before voting by show of hands.
The result could bring the massive institution to a halt once again.
The critical vote comes as the museum grapples with the fallout from a daylight jewel heist and an earlier staff strike that abruptly closed the Louvre and trapped thousands of visitors beneath IM Pei’s glass pyramid. Last month, the Louvre also announced the temporary closure of some employee offices and a public gallery due to weakened floor beams.
During the heist in October, thieves used a basket lift to reach the Louvre’s façade, force a window, break display cases and make off with pieces of the French crown jewels. A Senate inquiry published last week said the thieves got away with just 30 seconds because of broken cameras, outdated equipment, understaffed control rooms and poor coordination that initially sent police to the wrong place.
For employees, the high-profile incident crystallized long-standing concerns that crowding and understaffing were undermining safety and working conditions at a museum that welcomes millions of visitors each year.
These tensions came to public attention in June when striking workers stopped the museum. Visitors with timed tickets waited in long, motionless lines outside because the gates did not open; The footage made waves on social media, underscoring just how fragile operations at the sprawling institution had become.
Unions say talks with the government have made progress but are not yet complete.
Separately, the Ministry of Culture said on Sunday that it had tasked Philippe Jost, who oversaw the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris, with the mission of recommending a comprehensive reorganization of the Louvre following the findings of an administrative investigation.
Alexis Fritche, general secretary of the cultural wing of the CFDT union, told The Associated Press that three rounds of talks last week had yielded “quite significant progress” on promises of full-time hiring and increased state funding. But he said the proposals must be approved in writing and that he has not yet met all the demands.
“This is completely unsatisfactory,” Fritche said. He added that the employees were “very determined” and noted their strong commitment to keeping the world’s most visited museum open to the public.
In a strike notice sent to Dati last week, the CFDT, CGT and Sud unions said the Louvre was in “crisis” due to insufficient resources and “increasingly deteriorating working conditions”.
If workers vote to strike, the action may only last one day (the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays), but the strike declaration is open-ended.
The outcome of the closed meeting is expected to be revealed later Monday morning. MPs will soon arrive at the museum as France watches to see whether its most famous cultural institution can stay open under increasing pressure.
