By The Eiffel Tower is expected to be closed to visitors on Monday as workers plan a one-day strike to demand that Paris City Hall officials immediately review the financial management of the 135-year-old monument, claiming maintenance costs are being underestimated ahead of the summer Olympic Games.
Monday’s protest will mark the second time in a month that workers have shut down the 1,083-foot tall wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars, Paris’ most popular tourist attraction.
Labor union officials claim that Paris City Hall, which owns 99% of the Eiffel Tower operator, SETE, is relying on an “unsustainable” business model that overestimates ticket sales to the monument and underestimates the cost of maintenance and repairs.
The union that represents 400 Eiffel Tower workers contends that the city’s current maintenance plan for the tower works to the detriment of visitors and puts a heavier workload on employees.
The labor action comes as Paris prepares to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, which are scheduled to begin on July 26 and feature pieces of the Eiffel Tower in the medals that will be handed out during the games.
SETE claims the tower’s maintenance budget is based on an estimate that the monument will draw 7.4 million visitors this year, a figure the union says has never been achieved. The tower, according to union leaders, usually welcomes about 6 million visitors a year, or about 20,000 per day.
A similar strike shut down the Eiffel Tower on Dec. 27, the day that marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Gustave Eiffel, the French engineer whose company designed and built the tower for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris. That strike occurred as union members were also negotiating a new labor contract with the city.
Union officials are urging the city to review the maintenance budget for the tower.
In a statement released in December, the union predicted that under the city’s current budget, the tower could be closed during the Olympic Games due to a financial shortfall in maintenance costs.
