The Eiffel Tower, closed for five days due to a strike, will reopen on Sunday after an agreement between the unions and the operating company of the Parisian monument, the latter announced on Saturday. “The management of the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (Sete) and the trade union organizations have reached an agreement to end the strike providing that the parties will regularly review the economic model, the evolution of investments of work and revenue of the company through a body which will meet every 6 months,” specifies Sete in a press release.
The reopening will only be effective on Sunday morning “in order to give the technical team time to ensure the elevators are properly restarted for a safe reception”, underlined the two trade union organizations CGT and FO in a joint press release. . La Sete added that “this body will allow the monitoring of the amendment to the Public Service Delegation contract, as proposed in January”, with in particular “the return to financial balance of the company from 2025”. Management and unions also agreed on “an ambitious investment of 380 million euros until 2031, particularly for the work and maintenance of the Tower’s heritage”, according to the management press release.
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The agreement also provides for “the continuation of the 20th painting campaign and the commitment of the next”, a key point in the delicate question of the maintenance of the monument, inaugurated 135 years ago. “La Sete would like to renew its apologies to all visitors who have found its doors closed since February 19 and is delighted to be able to welcome the public again,” continues the management, assuring that visitors who have not been able to visiting the emblematic monument would be “automatically and fully reimbursed as soon as possible”. The five days of strike represented around 100,000 lost entries. “We will remain mobilized to defend the monument until a viable model is obtained,” warned the CGT and FO.
If it had lasted beyond Sunday afternoon, this strike would have been the longest in the recent history of the tower. In the fall of 1998, the monument remained closed for six and a half days. The ongoing conflict had already led to its closure on December 27, the hundredth anniversary of the disappearance of its architect Gustave Eiffel. The economic balance of the Eiffel Tower, which in 2023 returned to higher attendance than it was before Covid-19, with 6.3 million visitors, was weakened by some 130 million euros in shortfalls. win during the two years of health crisis (2020 and 2021).