The unions of the Center Pompidou in Paris, “in breach of trust” with their management, will be received on Tuesday at the Ministry of Culture, while the employees’ strike has continued for almost a month, learns 20 minutes Smael Bendaoud union representative Force Ouvrière (FO).
The inter-union (CGT, CFDT, FO, Unsa, SUD) announced this meeting during a general assembly which brought together between 250 and 300 employees (out of the thousand who work in this large museum of modern art and approximately 400 directly affected by a move during its closure for five years from 2025).
“Dialogue no longer has its place on the ministry side”
A meeting, confirmed by the ministry to AFP, whose objective remains unclear and which leaves employees with little hope. “We have felt a shift in recent weeks, dialogue no longer has its place on the side of the ministry and the administration,” explains Smael Bendaoud, “we can only discuss with people who have no decision-making power. »
According to the trade unionist, the ministry remains firm on the question of non-outsourcing of the services and missions of the Center Pompidou upon its reopening: “In line with everything that the government has been doing in the public service for years, they do not want to commit to this. We know why, what they want is to outsource to privatize services. »
Inaugurated almost half a century ago, the Center Pompidou must close gradually from 2025 for major asbestos removal and renovation work, estimated at more than 260 million euros and at least double if the we include the cost of the new cultural project planned for this occasion.
Strike notice extended until December 15
The staff meeting this Monday voted massively to renew their strike, due to lack of progress with management on a memorandum of understanding from which they expect “guarantees” on the future of their jobs and their missions. “The strike notice is extended until December 15 and the Center closed today, as it was yesterday,” adds Smael Bendaoud.
The strikers received the support of deputies Jérôme Legavre (LFI) and Julien Bayou (EELV), present at the AGM.
The inter-union speaks of a “break in trust” with management, after the president of the Center, Laurent le Bon, who had agreed to receive it last week, did not honor this meeting on Friday, after having rejected him “twice”.
Unions demand a single location
The unions unanimously believe that the memorandum of understanding “does not guarantee the future of jobs and missions, nor their non-outsourcing”.
They also demand that employees affected by a move during the closure be brought together in a single location, just like the collections (more than 140,000 works, from Marc Chagall to Pablo Picasso, including Frida Kahlo and Joan Miro), which the ministry and management have repeatedly excluded.
During the closure, the agents must be partly redeployed to the Grand Palais, under restoration work and which must reopen in 2024, to collection storage premises in the north of Paris then to a new creation and conservation center in Massy ( Paris region) which is due to open in 2026.
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