Louvre Museum's Workers Are on Strike
On June 16th, the iconic Louvre Museum was closed, not because of any renovations or technical issues, but because of a social movement led by its staff. The Louvre, home to the infamous Mona Lisa, attracts thousands of tourists every day. But on Monday, many tourists lined up around the locked building under the burning sun for hours.
The Louvre is home to over 33,000 pieces of artwork, from sculptures to antiques and paintings that date back hundreds of years. One of the most famous pieces is the Mona Lisa, which dates back to the 16th century. Crowds of tourists visit the Louvre every day just to try to get a look at the Mona Lisa, causing overcrowding as well as tired workers.
Throughout Monday morning, a meeting was being held by museum workers in the C.G.T.-Culture labor union. They discussed working conditions and overcrowding before going on a strike that ended up closing the museum for nearly 4 hours. A spokesperson said, “We didn’t plan to go on strike, but the people are so exhausted, they can’t support the conditions getting worse and worse.” Another spokesperson for the museum stated that the employees did not strike. Instead, it was a “social movement.”
Originally, before the pandemic, the Louvre Museum would often have 45,000 visitors in a day. But because of their overworked employees as well as overcrowding in the museum itself, they limited their daily visitors to only 30,000 per day ever in early 2023. Additionally, by the end of 2023, they raised their ticket prices to help with their programs as well as other costs, but this didn’t help with workplace conditions for their employees. According to The New York Times, “By late 2023, the museum had announced more changes, including raising its basic ticket price to 22 euros from 17 euros to help offset rising energy costs and support its free admission programs geared toward local residents.”
Over the span of 15 years, around 200 jobs have been lost, and nothing has changed. Overworked and underpaid Louvre employees are using their union rights to fight for better workplace conditions and improved crowd management. Although some solutions have been brought up, no changes have been made.
