Relief for tourists as tower strike ends

Employees at the Eiffel Tower ended a strike yesterday that had shut tourists out of the attraction for two days.

Employees at the Eiffel Tower ended a strike yesterday that had shut tourists out of the attraction for two days.

Public access to the viewing platforms, restaurants and shops had been halted after employees walked off the job on Tuesday afternoon. They returned to work after negotiations with management, tower operators said.

Workers had started the strike to support a colleague who received a disciplinary warning for a work-related problem. In a statement after talks, tower operators said the man's case would be reviewed in three months.

Earlier in the day, the tower repelled all boarders, to the distress of tourists.

"It's closed," visitors were brusquely told. "All day?" one asked. "It's closed until it opens again," a security guard replied.

In France, it sometimes seems, everyone goes on strike eventually: diplomats, gendarmes, taxi drivers, teachers and railwaymen. It was surprising to hear that this was the first strike at the Eiffel Tower for five years.

It was 24 hours before management and unions admitted there was a dispute, and on Wednesday evening the management issued an apology. The tower, which opened in 1889, attracts 6 million visitors a year.