Daily Times

PARIS: Concerned over an upcoming paint job at the famous landmark, workers at the Eiffel Tower went on strike on Tuesday, the third protest at the monument in six months.

The unions representing the 300 workers said that the strike was called over the ‘deliberate absence of transparency’ on key decisions on the the tower functioning.

The hard-left CGT union spokesman Denis Vavassori said that employees were particularly worried about a paint stripping operation planned ahead of a new paint job in 2017.

“The monument is poor condition and it is apparent,” he said, warning health risks to the staff from what he called a substandard operation. The strike left a huge number of visitors disappointed, who had to make do with admiring the 324-metre (1,063-foot) tower from the ground.

The tower’s operator confirmed that the latest closure was caused by a labour dispute. “Discussions between the management and workers’ representatives were taking place,” the operator said, adding that it regretted the inconvenience to visitors. This is the third dispute in six months at the venerable ‘Iron Lady’.