Staff at the Louvre Museum in Paris today voted in favour of strike action, with rolling walk outs set to start on 15 December. If followed widely by the Louvre's 2,100-strong workforce, the move could lead to closures during this peak visiting period.
At a meeting of around 200 employees from three unions, staff voted “with unanimity” in favour of the strikes, a union official told Agence France-Presse (AFP). The strike notice was filed to the French culture ministry, with the unions stating they no longer want to negotiate with the Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars.
According to the AFP, the unions wrote that parts of the Louvre were being regularly closed because of “insufficient staff numbers as well as technical failures and the building's ageing condition”.
A previous statement issued by unions on 30 October listed their grievances against the Louvre's leadership and denounced failures of safety equipment. The statement complained of a “top down management system, ignoring alerts from staff and spreading news distorting reality”.
This latest strike action further undermines the position of des Cars, who is already under pressure following the theft of the French crown jewels on 19 October, with official reports blaming the museum’s leadership for neglecting maintenance of its infrastructure. A month later, on 19 November, the Louvre was forced to close the Campana Gallery, dedicated to Greek Antiquity, citing weaknesses in supporting beams.
The news also comes just a day after Francis Steinbeck, the deputy general administrator of the Louvre, told the French broadcaster BFM-TV that a water leak at the museum had damaged hundreds of books. He said staff have identified “between 300 and 400 works” in the Egyptian antiquities department's library that have been damaged, adding that “the count is ongoing”.
A Louvre staff representative told The Art Newspaper that a first leak had been identified as early as last spring, but that requests for emergency measures were denied. At the same time, the representative said, a €275 000 refurbishment of the management offices above the library went ahead. Steinbeck also told French media that the poor state of this equipment “was known for years”.
The Louvre closed for a day last June after a staff walked out in a protest against “the worsening of the infrastructure and the working conditions”. According to an internal memo, the number of strikes per staff member rose by 700% from 2022 to 2024.
Unions are also unhappy about the €666m project for a new entrance to the Louvre launched by des Cars and supported by French president Emmanuel Macron. France's state auditor, the Cour des comptes, has said the project has "no financial viability" and all priority should be given to the protection of the Louvre's collections, which has suffered “considerable delays”.
An administrative investigation revealed “a chronic under-estimation” of the risks of burglary and an “under development of safety infrastructure”, according to the French culture minister Rachida Dati. A report written by des Cars before the October heist, which has been seen by The Art Newspaper, shows that under her four-year tenure less than 0.3% of the budget was dedicated to the prevention of theft and fire.
On 3 December, members of the French parliament voted to launch their own investigation in to the situation of the Louvre.
