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‘Suffocating’ Louvre closed as security staff go on strike due to overcrowding

The Louvre Museum in Paris was closed on Monday due to a strike by reception and security staff who claim the museum is "suffocating" due to overcrowding, leaving thousands of tourists disappointed.

Published: 27 May 2019 13:13 CEST
'Suffocating' Louvre closed as security staff go on strike due to overcrowding
Photo: AFP
The Louvre was set to remain closed for the whole of Monday as reception and security went on strike due to a recent increase in the number of visitors. 
 
 
In a statement the Sud Culture Solidaires union said: “The Louvre is suffocating” and that staff members have noticed a “deterioration in conditions for visitors and workers”. 
 
 
“This represents an increase of 20 percent since 2009, but the palace has not grown,” said the union, adding that during this time the number of staff members has decreased.
 
The management of the Louvre confirmed in the late morning that the museum had not opened and was expected to remain closed until the end of the day but “without further comment for the moment.”
 
The museum announced that any tickets for Monday could be refunded by writing to [email protected].
 

Disappointed visitors post photos of the long queues outside the museum on Monday morning.

 

 
 
The CGT Culture union said 150 museum staff had gathered outside the culture ministry in Paris to protest “against staff shortages”.
   
The Louvre said it would refund visitors who had bought tickets for Monday.
   
It is usually particularly busy on Mondays as it is one of the few Paris museums to stay open on a day when many others close.
   
This is not the first time Louvre workers have staged a strike over conditions: in April 2013 staff walked out due to an upsurge in pickpockets targeting tourists. 

 
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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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