Eiffel Tower Employees Strike

September 16, 2004

Eiffel Tower Employees Strike
September 16, 2004 – Paris’ most famous monument, The Eiffel Tower, was shut down Wednesday due to an employee strike. The strike, which started Tuesday afternoon, began when employees walked off the job in support of a colleague who was issued a disciplinary warning for work-related problems, company spokeswoman Isabelle Esnous told the Associated Press.

At this time of year, Gustave Eiffel’s monument usually gets 15,000 visitors a day, said Esnous, an employee of the Societe Nouvelle d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, which is a public-private company that operates and maintains the Eiffel Tower. "For tourists, there’s no Eiffel Tower and that’s very sad."

According to Esnous, the tower employs about 250 people and, with the exception of administrative staff, most were on strike. The management company does not understand the striking employees, who are concerned that the tower’s 25-year management agreement expires next year. The end of that agreement would not affect workers, she said.

USA Today reports that once the world’s tallest structure, the 1,069-foot tower has received more than 210 million visitors since being completed in 1889.

There is no word of when the strike is expected to end.