Strike: showdown between staff and management of the Center Pompidou

A “standoff” has begun between the management of the Center Pompidou, a large modern art museum in Paris on strike since the beginning of the week, and its staff, worried about its future before the establishment closes for five years from 2025. Union banners have taken over the hall of the establishment, where a large poster states in French and English: “On strike”, according to photos published by strikers and the CGT on social networks. The notice period lasts for one month, renewable. A new general staff meeting is planned for Monday, according to the unions, and the opening of the museum this weekend will depend on the number of declared strikers, according to management. The establishment, which also houses a library and a number of mediation spaces, was closed Monday, Thursday and Friday (Tuesday being the usual day museums close). It was able to open to the public on Wednesday, even though some staff members were on strike. There were 200 of them (out of 1000 agents employed by the Center Pompidou) on Monday, the first day of the social movement, according to management. It also specified that a large private evening called “Artklub”, hosted by DJs and performers, had to be canceled on Friday October 20.

The staff voted that same day to renew the strike, failing to obtain satisfactory answers regarding the maintenance of positions, missions and salaries, in particular, at the end of the gradual closure for major asbestos removal and renovation between 2025 and 2030, according to Nathalie Ramos, of CGT Culture. “We are in a standoff. There are points of disagreement, but we want to get out of them as quickly as possible,” Frédéric Mazella, of the CFDT, told AFP.

“We requested the Ministry of Culture to obtain a meeting on Friday afternoon with our general management and obtain details. We have made progress, particularly on the maintenance of remuneration and the non-outsourcing of services (reception agents, speakers, Editor's note), two commitments which remain to be confirmed in the draft memorandum of understanding,” a- he added.

At the end of a first meeting on Tuesday between the trade union organizations (CGT, FO, CFDT, SUD, Unsa) and the office of the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak, the negotiations resulted in a draft memorandum of understanding . “The 18 demands were studied point by point and commitments were made in the face of legitimate concerns,” assured AFP the management, which said it was “confident” about the continuation of the negotiations and did not did not wish to speak further on Friday. “As long as the protocol is not signed, the strike is not lifted,” insisted Nathalie Ramos (CGT), stressing that the staff members were asking for “written guarantees on the non-outsourcing of their missions and the renewal of certain contracts during the closure. On the CFDT side, Frédéric Mazella indicates that “the administration's proposals were amended by the unions, in particular in favor of regrouping agents on a single site during the closure”. The draft protocol has so far provided for a redeployment of agents at the Grand Palais, for restoration work and which must reopen in 2024, and on a new Ile-de-France center for conservation and creation of the Center Pompidou in Massy (Essonne), which must open in 2026. Conferences planned as part of the contemporary art fair Paris by Art Basel, which is held until Sunday, have been moved to the Picasso museum, not far from the Center Pompidou, according to the CGT Culture, which protested in a leaflet against “this attempt to break the strike”.