The Centre Pompidou (National Museum of Modern Art) in Paris, November 16, 2023. After three months of strike – the longest in the history of the Centre Pompidou – the management of the institution and two majority trade unions, CFDT and Force Ouvrière, signed an agreement on Monday, January 29. “As soon as I arrived at the Ministry of Culture, I wanted to put an end to this situation of deadlock,” immediately applauded the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati. “One hundred days of strike is unprecedented in the history of the Centre Pompidou. I thank the employees and the management for their spirit of responsibility.” “This protocol is essential to ensure the protection of our colleagues during the renovation of the Centre Pompidou,” supports Alexis Fritche, General Secretary of CFDT-Culture, praising “the involvement of Ms. Dati and her cabinet, a decisive factor in the outcome of this negotiation.”
Since October 16, the strikers had been increasing pressure to obtain job guarantees during the long closure of the Centre Pompidou for renovations from 2025 to 2030. The management had announced redeployment prospects. The Public Information Library (BPI) will be relocated to the Lumière building, near Bercy Village. A convention to be signed soon with the Grand Palais will allow for exhibitions on 2,800 square meters.
The employees who are to be assigned there will do the work of the personnel that was previously outsourced. Other employees will be transferred to the Francilian branch of Massy (Essonne), which is scheduled to open in the summer of 2026. The space, primarily dedicated to the storage of reserves shared with the Picasso Museum, will offer two annual exhibitions from the collections, as well as a program of live performances. Under the label “Constellations,” exhibitions are also planned to be held in various locations across France.
For employees worried about their status during this period, there was still uncertainty about the modalities of this redeployment. “Five years of closure is huge in the career of an employee,” summarized Philippe Mahé, secretary of the Force Ouvrière union. The text of the agreement signed on Monday, which Le Monde was able to consult, preserves their status as public servants during the closure as well as upon reopening. No employee on fixed-term or permanent contracts will be laid off during the construction, with the institution proposing to convert certain precarious contracts. The document also provides for an increase in the training budget and promises support for employees.
