PARIS — Staff on the Louvre Museum voted Monday to strike over working situations and different complaints, a labor union mentioned, dealing one other blow to the Paris museum after an embarrassing jewellery heist in October.
The CFDT union mentioned the vote was taken at a gathering of 400 employees on Monday morning and that they determined to strike for the day.
The world’s most-visited museum didn’t open as scheduled. A discover on its web site suggested would-be guests that “the museum is closed for the second.”
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows under.
Staff on the Louvre in Paris will on Monday vote to go on strike or proceed talks with the federal government after months of mounting strain on the world’s most visited museum, which unions have described as being “in disaster.”
Tons of of staff will collect behind closed doorways in a 500-seat auditorium contained in the Paris landmark the place unions will current the result of current talks with Tradition Minister Rachida Dati earlier than voting by a present of fingers.
The end result may once more convey the huge establishment to a standstill.
The crunch vote comes because the museum struggles with the aftermath of a daylight jewel heist and an earlier workers strike that abruptly shut the Louvre and stranded 1000’s of tourists beneath I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid. Final month, the Louvre additionally introduced the momentary closure of some staff’ places of work and one public gallery due to weakened ground beams.
In the course of the theft on October, thieves used a basket raise to succeed in the Louvre’s facade, pressured a window, smashed show circumstances and fled with items of the French crown jewels. A Senate inquiry launched final week mentioned the thieves escaped with barely 30 seconds to spare, citing damaged cameras, outdated gear, understaffed management rooms and poor coordination that originally despatched police to the mistaken location.
For workers, the high-profile incident crystallized long-standing considerations that crowding and skinny staffing have been undermining safety and dealing situations at a museum that welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists annually.
These tensions spilled into public view in June, when putting employees introduced the museum to a halt. Guests with timed tickets waited in lengthy, unmoving traces outdoors because the doorways did not open — a picture that rippled throughout social media and underscored how fragile operations on the sprawling establishment had grow to be.
Unions say talks with the federal government have made progress however stay incomplete.
Individually, the Tradition Ministry mentioned Sunday it has tasked Philippe Jost, who oversaw the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris, with a mission to suggest a deep reorganization of the Louvre following the findings of an administrative inquiry.
Three rounds of discussions final week produced “fairly essential progress” on guarantees of extra full-time hires and elevated state funding, Alexis Fritche, normal secretary of the tradition wing of the CFDT union, informed The Related Press. However the proposals should be confirmed in writing and don’t but meet all calls for, he mentioned.
“It’s not fully satisfying,” Fritche mentioned. Staff are “fairly decided,” he added, whereas noting their robust attachment to maintaining the world’s most visited museum open to the general public.
Of their strike discover to Dati final week, the CFDT, CGT and Sud unions mentioned the Louvre was in “disaster,” with inadequate sources and “more and more deteriorated working situations.”
If employees vote to strike, the motion may final simply sooner or later — the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays — although the strike discover is open-ended.
The results of the closed assembly is predicted to emerge afterward Monday morning. Lawmakers are due on the museum shortly afterward, as France watches to see whether or not its most well-known cultural establishment can keep open underneath rising pressure.
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John Leicester in Paris contributed
