Paris’s Eiffel Tower to reopen following six-day strike

The Eiffel Tower in Paris was supposed to open again on Sunday after being closed for six days because of strikes.

Employees first went on strike on Monday because they were unhappy with how the tower was being managed.

The company that operates the Eiffel Tower, called Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), announced that they made an agreement with the worker’s unions on Saturday.

There has been another attack at the famous landmark in Paris, this is the second one in the last three months. Paris is getting ready to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

SETE said sorry to people who bought tickets and promised to give them their money back if their bookings were affected. They lost around 100,000 ticket sales because of this.

The strong CGT labor union said workers are going on strike because they disagree with SETE’s business model. They think SETE is estimating too many future visitors and not estimating the cost of maintenance and renovation accurately.

Stéphane Dieu, representing the union, said SETE is only focused on making money quickly.

The people who are protesting are worried about the monument. The newspaper Le Monde said that it has not been painted for 14 years, instead of the usual seven. Also, other repairs are not being done on time.

This week’s strike was supposed to last for five days, but the CGT said on Friday that workers voted to continue the strike on Saturday after turning down SETE’s first offer.

On Saturday, SETE agreed with the unions to keep an eye on the company’s business, investments, and earnings. They will meet every six months to talk about it.

With the goal of getting its finances in order by 2025, they also agreed to invest around 380m (£325m) by 2031 for repairs and upkeep of the landmark.

On Thursday, France’s Culture Minister Rachida Dati proposed that the Eiffel Tower be designated as a “historical monument” so that the government can provide funding for any necessary repairs.

The Eiffel Tower closed on 27 December because workers were protesting how it is managed. They were also marking 100 years since the tower’s creator, Gustave Eiffel, died.

Eiffel was a civil engineer who became famous for building bridges and viaducts for the French railway. He was most famous for building the tower to show how advanced France was to the rest of the world, at the 1889 Paris Exposition.

It took just over two years to build, and at that time, it was the tallest building in the world. It quickly became a well-known symbol of Paris.