Anthony Aranda, a 23-year-old tourist from Peru, had only two days to visit Paris with his cousin, so reaching the top of the Eiffel Tower was high on his to-do list. But on Thursday, he had to cross it off that list without even setting foot on the famous Iron Lady.
A labor strike, now in its fourth day, kept the tower closed.
“Next we will travel to London so this was our last chance,” Mr Aranda said in the pouring rain as he looked towards the wrought iron monument. “That was the idea, at least.”
Mr Aranda, who is studying electronic engineering in Spain, said he would get over the disappointment.
But in Paris, just months before the city hosts the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, there are concerns that the strike could turn into a protracted and highly visible labor dispute at one of the French capital’s most popular landmarks. The site is so symbolic, in fact, that the medals created for the Games will be clad in iron from the tower itself.
“It is the image of France,” said Olivia Grégoire, France’s tourism minister. he told Sud Radio.
Unions representing the strikers say financial mismanagement at the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, or SETE, the company that manages the monument, is jeopardizing essential renovation work. The unionized workers threatened to continue their walkout as long as necessary.
The tower operator denied the claims.
“The years 2020 to 2023, from Covid to its permanent consequences, have been difficult for the Eiffel Tower and its employees and have left concerns about the future,” SETE president Jean-Francois Martins admitted in a statement.
The company lost 130 million euros, about $140 million, in revenue during the pandemic. In 2021, the city injected even 60 million euros to keep it alive.
But Mr Martins said a new financial plan, including a new €145m investment, would keep the Eiffel Tower in shape in the coming years. The new plan, he said, “will provide lasting protection to the monument, its workers and SETE until 2031.”
The plan, which still needs to be approved by the Paris City Council in the coming months, will pay for much of that investment with a 20 percent increase in standard ticket prices, the statement said. Adults currently pay nearly $32 to reach the top of the Eiffel Tower by elevator, though visitors who venture up the stairs pay less.
Paris City Hall also rejected accusations of negligence and expressed confidence that the labor dispute would not drag on indefinitely.
“I have no particular concerns about strikes during the Olympics,” said Emmanuel Grégoire, deputy mayor of Paris. he told the Franceinfo television network on Wednesday. “The city supports the Eiffel Tower – it is its jewel.”
At 1,083 feet—about three-quarters the height of the Empire State Building, including its spire—the tower attracts nearly seven million tourists a year.
On Thursday morning, few were watching. Guests with tickets purchased online were emailed about the closure and refunded. the gloomy weather seemed to keep many others away. The few who remained quickly snapped photos on their way to attractions such as the Louvre Museum.
“It’s very beautiful,” Barkin Gursoy, a 24-year-old lawyer visiting from Istanbul, said of the tower. “Even nicer in the rain.”
But labor unions say beauty is under threat. They had already organized a strike in December, on the 100th anniversary of the death of Gustave Eiffel, the civil engineer whose firm designed and built the monument.
The city of Paris owns the Eiffel Tower and is the majority shareholder of SETE, which employs around 360 people. Under an agreement now under review, the company pays an annual fee to the city: it paid 8 million euros in 2021 in royalties and almost 16 million euros in 2022.
Unions say the city is now asking for much more – up to €50 million a year, some have publicly worried – which they fear will limit the operator’s ability to maintain the Eiffel Tower. The monument’s nearly 2.7 million square feet must be regularly stripped of old paint and given a new coating to prevent rust and other forms of corrosion.
On Thursday, more than 50 striking workers chanted slogans and waved union flags and signs at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. One banner depicted Mayor Anne Hidalgo milking the monument and accused her of using it as a “cash cow.”
Nada Bzioui, a representative of the Force Ouvrière union for workers at the Eiffel Tower, told the site that the latest painting campaign, which began in 2019, was out of budget and had so far been limited to the exterior of the tower.
He said the unions were not opposed to paying the city a fee, but wanted more financial breathing space. He also questioned the company’s continued ability to pay for maintenance costs and employee wages.
“It’s a national monument,” Ms Bzioui said. “We can’t let it go down like this.”
The tower operator rejected accusations that the city had gotten greedy, saying that under the new plan, the city’s royalties would be calculated differently — including being reduced in years when renovation costs rose — meaning that, on average, the company would end up paying the city about 31 to 34 million euros a year.
The operator also acknowledged that the painting had been delayed — by the pandemic, the discovery of lead in the old coating and the overall complexity of renovating, often at night, a 135-year-old attraction that is open year-round.
However, he denied that the monument was in a dilapidated state.
Some of those technical complexities and financial complications had filtered down to the few tourists watching Thursday’s workers’ protest from afar.
But most were understanding.
“We were hoping to visit it, but that’s okay, we can take pictures,” said Mariana Pedrosa Ramos Pinto, 43, a teacher from southern Brazil who was in Paris with her husband for their 15th wedding anniversary. “It was more about appreciating it from the outside.”
After all, the couple noted, as they sheltered under an umbrella, the president of Brazil is a former trade unionist. And many visitors already see France as a country where strikes are as common as baguettes.
“We didn’t expect to go up,” Ms. Ramos Pinto said, adding of the protest: “We it was waiting for something like that.”
