Eiffel Tower closes as employees strike

PARIS (DPA): Workers at the Eiffel Tower in Paris staged a walkout, prompting the closure of the iconic attraction, as reported by its operators.

Employees are on strike because they want one of France’s most popular tourist attractions to be better managed, French media reported.

Workers say revenues have been overestimated and the cost of maintenance work underestimated, the Paris newspaper Le Parisien reported.

Usually, the Eiffel Tower is repainted every seven years, but there hasn’t been a new coat in nearly 14 years, union representative Denis Vavassori told France Info.

The tower “is clearly in a state of decay,” he said.

Traces of rust can already be seen underneath. Even employees who have worked on the Eiffel Tower for more than 30 years have never seen anything like it.

The Paris landmark, also known as the “dame de fer,” or “Iron Lady,” in France, draws 7 million visitors annually.

The monument near the Seine was built for the Paris World Exhibition and completed in 1889. It is named after Gustave Eiffel, the French engineer whose company designed it.