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Louvre Staff Launch Rolling Strike With Vote to Determine Closures

The walkout is driven by chronic understaffing, severe crowding, rising disrepair, all underscored by a recent heist inquiry.

FILE- People walk by an entrance of the Louvre museum, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva, file)
FILE - A police car parks in the courtyard of the Louvre museum, one week after the robbery, on Oct. 26, 2025, in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
People stand outside the Louvre Museum, after French police arrested suspects in the Louvre heist case, in Paris, France October 26, 2025. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor/File Photo
FILE - Soldiers patrol as people queue to try to enter the Louvre museum, although it remains closed for the day after Sunday's jewels robbery, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva, File)

Overview

  • Unions representing Louvre workers will hold a closed-door vote Monday to decide whether to extend the strike or continue negotiations with the culture ministry, with outcomes ranging from full shutdown to limited opening.
  • Staff are pressing for more full-time hires, urgent renovations and measures to manage visitor surges, and unions also oppose a 45% ticket price rise for most non‑EU visitors to €32 starting in January.
  • Talks produced what union officials called important progress on promised hiring and state funding, though commitments remain unsigned, and the ministry has tasked Philippe Jost to map a deep reorganization.
  • The October 19 daylight theft of Napoleonic jewels exposed major security failures documented by a Senate inquiry, four suspects are under formal investigation, and the stolen items have not been recovered.
  • Recent incidents include a water leak that damaged 300–400 Egyptology volumes and a gallery closure due to weakened floor beams, following a June walkout that previously shut the museum.