- Title: FRANCE: Paris museums remain shut in strike over job cuts
- Date: 5th December 2009
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 4, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE LOUVRE VARIOUS OF UNIONISTS WITH FLAGS SHOUTING INSIDE THE LOUVRE PYRAMID WOMAN WAVING HER FIST AND SHOUTING UNIONIST FLAGS IN THE LOUVRE WOMAN WITH FLAG VARIOUS OF UNIONISTS CHANTING UNIONIST NICO MONQUAUT SHOUTING WHICH MUSEUMS CLOSED AS PEOPLE CHEER UNIONISTS CHANTING EMPTY HALL IN THE LOUVRE VARIOUS O
- Embargoed: 20th December 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: Employment,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVAEFRHGSTLFIVGWP4ZU5TIA1CC
- Story Text: To the disappointment of tourists, access to some of Paris top museums remains disrupted as workers continue their strike.
Many of Paris's top museums remained closed on Friday (December 4), to the disappointment of tourists, as museum staff continued to strike over cost cuts that they see as a threat to priceless art.
Top Paris museums such as the Louvre, which houses the Mona Lisa at the heart of an art collection spanning millennia, help make France the world's top tourist destination. But staff say job cuts and lower subsidies are endangering this status.
Despite its workers striking, the Louvre did open a back door to let tourists in, meanwhile unionists meet under its famous glass pyramid to discuss strike options and rally to their cause.
Other museums around the French capital remained closed completely. The Musee d'Orsay, home to Edouard Manet's "Olympia," some of Vincent Van Gogh's most striking landscapes and room after room of sun-dappled Impressionist paintings, was also closed for the day again. So was the futurist Center Pompidou, which has spearheaded the protest movement and has been closed since last week.
France's government is restructuring its culture sector as part of broader budget cuts, arguing it is improving quality while controlling costs through audits and other initiatives.
Union workers are particularly angered by a government plan to fill only half the vacancies left by retired officials. They also complain that a growing emphasis on costs and ticket sales is overshadowing cultural worth as a measure of success.
Tourism accounts for around 6 percent of gross domestic product in France, though the outlook for this year is gloomy as crisis-hit Europeans, Americans and Japanese stay at home.
France's museums play a crucial part in pulling in the crowds. Last year, some 80 million people visited France; the Louvre alone sees about 6 million visitors a year.
Union activists have complained that even before the new measures, many museums had to seal rooms and display fewer artworks to cope with a lack of staff. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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