Historic Centre Pompidou Strike Ends with Agreement

French dailyLe Mondereports that the strikebegunlast October by workers at the Centre Pompidou ended on January 29 with an agreement between CFDT and Force Ouvrière, the two unions representing the employees, and management of the Paris institution. “As soon as I arrived at the Ministry of Culture, I wanted to put an end to this stalemate,” culture minister Rachida Datisaid in astatementposted to X, formerly Twitter. Dati took office just eighteen days before the agreement was signed. “One hundred days on strike is unprecedented in the history of the Centre Pompidou,” she continued.

“I would like to thank the staff and management for their spirit of responsibility.”RelatedTALOI HAVINI AWARDED ARTES MUNDI PRIZEEDDIE MARTINEZ TO REPRESENT SAN MARINO AT 60TH VENICE BIENNALE Citing concerns regarding job precarity, the workers had launched their action ahead of the museum’sscheduled five-year closure, to take place from 2025 to 2030. The Pompidou’s Renzo Piano/Richard Rogers–designed home will undergo a major renovation and expansion during that time. Some 1,000 workers ranging from conservators to administrators to front-of-house staff will be affected by the closure, regarding which museum officials had been opaque, they said. As well, staff grew concerned about the financial risk inherent to the $200 million plan regarding the Pompidou’s reopening, which involved borrowing works from around the world.

Le Mondereports that the Bibliothèque Publique d’Information will be housed in the Lumière building, near Paris’s Bercy Village, while the Pompidou will mount exhibitions at the historic Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées, which offers roughly 30,000 square feet of exhibition space. Details regarding programming are not yet available. “This protocol is essential to ensure the protection of our colleagues during the renovation of the Centre Pompidou,” said Alexis Fritche, general secretary of culture for CFDT, in a statement. Fritche lauded “the involvement of Rachida Dati and her staff, a decisive factor in the success of these negotiations.”.