Workers at the world-famous Louvre in Paris are ready to vote on strike action this Monday, or to continue negotiations with the government. This follows months of escalating pressure, with unions describing the world’s most visited museum as ‘in crisis’.
Hundreds of employees will gather behind closed doors in a 500-seat auditorium in Paris’ iconic landmark. Union representatives will present the outcome of recent talks with Culture Minister Rachida Dati, followed by a show of hands. The decision could once again bring the enormous institution to a complete standstill.
The decisive vote comes as the museum grapples with the aftermath of a daylight jewelry heist and an earlier staff strike that abruptly closed the Louvre and left thousands of visitors stranded beneath IM Pei’s glass pyramid. Last month, the Louvre also announced the temporary closure of some employee offices and a public gallery due to weakened floor beams.
During the October heist, thieves used a basket lift to reach the facade of the Louvre, forced open a window, smashed display cases and fled with pieces of the French crown jewels. A Senate investigation released last week found the thieves escaped in just 30 seconds, citing broken cameras, outdated equipment, understaffed control rooms and poor coordination that initially sent police to the wrong location.
For workers, the high-profile incident reinforced long-standing concerns that crowds and tight staffing were undermining safety and working conditions at a museum that welcomes millions of visitors every year.
These tensions came into the public spotlight in June, when striking workers brought the museum to a standstill. Visitors with timed tickets waited outside in long, motionless lines as the doors failed to open — an image that rippled across social media and underscored how fragile operations at the sprawling institute had become.
Unions say talks with the government have made progress but remain incomplete.
In addition, the Culture Ministry said on Sunday that it has tasked Philippe Jost, who oversaw the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris, with proposing a deep reorganization of the Louvre following the findings of an administrative investigation.
Three rounds of talks last week produced “pretty significant progress” on promises of additional full-time hires and more state funding, Alexis Fritche, general secretary of the CFDT union’s culture department, told The Associated Press. But the proposals must be confirmed in writing and do not yet meet all requirements, he said.
“It’s not entirely satisfying,” Fritche said. The employees are “pretty determined,” he added, noting their strong commitment to keeping the world’s most visited museum open to the public.
In their strike announcement to Dati last week, the CFDT, CGT and Sud unions said the Louvre was in “crisis,” with insufficient resources and “increasingly poor working conditions.”
If workers vote to strike, the action could last just one day – the Louvre is closed on Tuesday – although the strike notice is open-ended.
The outcome of the closed meeting is expected to be known later on Monday morning. Lawmakers are due to come to the museum soon after, as France watches to see if its most famous cultural institution can stay open under mounting pressure.
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