If you plan to admire the panoramic view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower, you may have to rethink your plans. The staff of the famous monument started an open-ended strike on Monday, February 19, at the request of several trade unions of the Société d’exploitation de la tour Eiffel (Sete).
In December, they had already mobilized. The slogan remains the same: they denounce poor financial management of the monument by the municipality which owns 99% of the company, and in particular the fact that it will increase the fee it collects on its revenues.
This fee collected by the City of Paris will increase from 16 million euros per year to 50 million euros per year. According to the trade unions, the recent context – Covid, closure for work due to lead pollution – does not allow it.
Currently, only 3% of the monument has been decontaminated from lead and the tower must be repainted. “It has been almost 14 years since it was repainted when normally it should be done every 7 years,” Denis Vavassori, another union delegate of the CGT, told franceinfo, denouncing the state of disrepair in which the tower finds itself.
According to the trade unions, the municipality is looking to generate revenue by cutting back on the proper functioning of the monument: “The renovation of an elevator, goods lift, all installations that are over 30 years old… All of this is set aside to allow the city to take its 50 million euros.”
