Strike at the Center Pompidou: management and unions sign a memorandum of understanding

The Minister of Culture Rachida Dati announced in a press release on Monday the “end of the social conflict at the Center Pompidou”, some of whose staff went on strike in October, fearing for their future during a closure scheduled for five years.

“I am pleased to announce, today, the signing, between the Center Pompidou and the trade union organizations, SPCP-FO and CFDT-Culture, of the memorandum of understanding relating to the support of the teams during the work which it will carry out "object between 2025 and 2030 thanks to the support of the State", writes the minister in her text, without specifying the content of this "protocol". “This agreement provides guarantees to agents of the Center Pompidou in anticipation of the closure of the main building for work from mid-2025,” assures the minister.

According to the CFDT, in the majority with FO, "the protocol provides that the management and the ministry undertake to request the maintenance of the current employment ceiling (around a thousand agents, editor's note)", declared Alexis to AFP Fritche, union leader. He specifies that the management “left the door open to those who would like to sign later”, except SUD, considered unrepresentative by the management. The inter-union included CFDT, FO, CGT, Unsa and SUD.

The staff of the establishment, also called Beaubourg and which houses one of the most important modern and contemporary art museums in the world as well as a library very popular with students, fear for their future. They asked for guarantees on the maintenance of the employment ceiling and the non-outsourcing of their missions during the closure of the place, inaugurated almost half a century ago and which must remain closed until 2030 for important asbestos removal and restoration work. They were also worried about the “dispersal of the collections”, particularly abroad, during the closure of the museum.

Some of them went on strike on October 16, causing around twenty days of closure of the Center Pompidou, which was closed daily during the Christmas school holidays. The agents had massively voted back the strike during the last general assembly on January 11 and the inter-union extended the strike notice at the beginning of January until February 15.