‘We are angry’: Louvre Museum closed as workers strike

“DISAPPOINTED”

“I’m very disappointed, because the Louvre was the main reason for our visit in Paris, because we wanted to see the Mona Lisa,” said 37-year-old Minsoo Kim, who had travelled from Seoul with his wife for their honeymoon.

Natalia Brown, a 28-year-old tourist from London, said she understands “why they’re doing it”, but called it “unfortunate timing for us”.

Rachel Adams, a 60-year-old real estate agent from Utah, said she had heard of the plans to strike.

“I think that the Louvre makes a lot of money and they should be handling their finances quite a bit better. They had the big water leak. I mean, this is important stuff.”

Speaking on the eve of the action, Christian Galani, from the hard-left CGT union, said the strike would have broad support across the museum’s 2,200-strong workforce.

“We’re going to have a lot more strikers than usual,” Galani said.

“Normally, it’s front-of-house and security staff. This time, there are scientists, documentarians, collections managers, even curators and colleagues in the workshops telling us they plan to go on strike.”

All have different grievances, adding up to a picture of staff discontent inside the institution, just as it finds itself in a harsh public spotlight following the shocking robbery on Oct 19.

Reception and security staff complain they are understaffed and required to manage vast flows of people, with the home of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa welcoming several million people beyond its planned capacity each year.

A spontaneous walk-out protest in June led the museum to temporarily close.

The Louvre has become a symbol of so-called “over-tourism”, with the 30,000 daily visitors facing what unions call an “obstacle course” of hazards, long queues, and sub-standard toilets and catering.