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Unions worry that a fee paid to the city of Paris could cut into the repair budget. But the company that manages the monument said an “ambitious” investment plan would keep the tower in shape.
By Aurélien Breeden
Reporting from Paris
Anthony Aranda, a 23-year-old Peruvian tourist, had only two days to make a stopover in Paris with his cousin. So climbing to the highest height of the Eiffel Tower is on his bucket list. But on Thursday he had to cross it off this list without even setting foot in the famous Iron Lady.
A labor strike, now in its fourth day, was keeping the tower closed.
“Then we’ll go to London, so that will be our last chance,” said the gentleman. Aranda, in the pouring rain, hunted next to the wrought-iron monument. “At least that’s the idea. “
Aranda, who is studying electronic engineering in Spain, said he would overcome the disappointment.
But in Paris, just months before the city is set to host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, there are fears that the strike could turn into a protracted and highly visual hard-working dispute at one of the French capital’s most iconic landmarks. It is so symbolic that the medals created for the Games will be embedded with iron from the tower itself.
“It’s the symbol of France,” Olivia Grégoire, France’s tourism minister, told Sud Radio.
Unions representing the strikers say financial mismanagement by the Société d’Exploitation de los angeles Tour Eiffel, or SETE, the company that operates the monument, is jeopardizing renovation work. Unionized workers have threatened to continue their strike for as long as it takes.
The tower operator rejected the allegations.
“The years 2020 to 2023, from Covid to its lasting consequences, were difficult for the Eiffel Tower and its employees, and have left concerns for the future,” Jean-François Martins, the president of the SETE, acknowledged in a statement.
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