PARIS, Dec 17: Employees at the Louvre Museum were set to vote on Wednesday morning on whether to extend a strike that shut the world’s most visited museum, as unions protest chronic understaffing, building deterioration and recent management decisions; pressures intensified by a brazen crown jewels heist in October.
Workers were expected to gather for a general assembly to decide whether to continue the walkout, which was adopted unanimously earlier this week. The museum was closed on Tuesday for its regular weekly shutdown.
Unions say frustration has mounted over staff shortages, ageing infrastructure and a planned increase in ticket prices for non-European visitors.
Tensions have been further sharpened by fallout from the theft of crown jewels during a daylight robbery that exposed serious security lapses at the museum.
Culture Ministry officials held crisis talks with unions on Monday and proposed to cancel a planned USD 6.7 million cut in 2026 funding, open new recruitment for gallery guards and visitor services and increase staff compensation. Union officials said the measures fell short.
The labour vote is expected hours before Louvre President Laurence des Cars is scheduled to appear before the Senate’s culture committee at 4:30 pm, as lawmakers continue probing security failures at the museum.
Des Cars has acknowledged an “institutional failure” following the heist, but has come under renewed scrutiny after admitting she only learned of a critical 2019 security audit after the robbery. France’s Court of Auditors and a separate administrative inquiry have since criticised long delays in implementing a long-promised security overhaul.
The Culture Ministry announced emergency anti-intrusion measures last month and assigned Philippe Jost, who oversaw the Notre Dame restoration, to help reorganise the museum. The move was widely seen as a sign of mounting pressure on Louvre leadership.
The museum’s reopening now hinges on the outcome of Wednesday’s vote. (AP)
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