Eiffel Tower to reopen following staff strike after female employees ‘made invisible’ for Hindu group visit
Eiffel Tower to Reopen Following Staff Walkout
Poinews.com – The Eiffel Tower to reopen following a one-day walkout by its workforce marks the end of a short but nationally charged closure. Workers at the 1889 iron structure walked out on Monday after female colleagues were instructed to remove themselves from sight during a guided tour arranged for a large Hindu spiritual delegation. The episode drew swift condemnation from French politicians and triggered a formal review of how the tower's operating company handles special-group requests.
What Triggered the Walkout
SETA, the firm that runs the tower's day-to-day operations, confirmed that a delegation from the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) had requested the visit be structured to minimise "interactions with women." SETA stated plainly that "these conditions should not have been accepted," conceding the arrangement exceeded its own protocols. The tower's website attributed the Monday shutdown to "exceptional circumstances" and asked ticket holders to watch their inboxes for rescheduling details.
Staff described the day's orders in stark terms. Women employed directly by the tower, as well as women working for contracted service providers, were told to make themselves unseen while the delegation moved through the structure. Some were pulled from assigned posts and relocated to quieter zones; at other stations, male colleagues were swapped in temporarily. Female employees were also directed to avoid specific corridors and stairwells for the duration of the group's presence.
"Instructions were given to female employees of the Eiffel Tower and to female employees of contractors to make themselves invisible in order to welcome this delegation."
The workforce statement added that workers were "shocked" to find themselves placed in such a position and condemned what they called "professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex." The walkout that followed was a collective refusal to continue operating under conditions the workforce viewed as demeaning.
BAPS Apologises and Political Figures Respond
The spiritual organisation responded publicly, offering an apology for "any pain or inconvenience caused." In a post on X, BAPS clarified that, to its knowledge, no individual was barred from entering the tower. The delegation's size, the organisation explained, led to a scheduling decision made jointly with tower staff at the opening of normal operating hours, intended to prevent disruption to other visitors.
"To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower."
Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire pledged that an internal investigation would commence "as soon as possible," signalling that the city views the episode as more than an isolated HR misstep. National-level reaction came from Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the National Assembly, who addressed the matter on Monday with pointed language.
"I refuse to accept that women should be told to step aside to meet the demands of foreign visitors. Welcoming others never means giving up our values. In France, women are fully present in public life. No one tells them to become invisible there."
Braun-Pivet's remarks framed the episode within France's secular tradition of laïcité, which holds that public institutions must remain neutral on religious grounds and that no visitor's faith practice can override the equal presence of women in shared spaces. Her intervention elevated what might otherwise have remained a workplace grievance into a matter of national principle.
The Eiffel Tower receives roughly seven million visitors annually and employs thousands of seasonal and permanent staff across ticketing, maintenance, retail, and hospitality roles. A directive telling a subset of that workforce to disappear from view for the duration of one group's visit struck a nerve well beyond the tower's own gates, touching questions about gender equality, secular public life, and the limits of accommodating religious preferences in shared spaces.
FAQ
When does the Eiffel Tower to reopen following the strike? The tower resumed normal visitor operations on Tuesday, the day after the Monday walkout. Ticket holders were advised to check their inboxes for any rescheduling information.
Who manages the Eiffel Tower's daily operations? SETA is the company responsible for the tower's day-to-day management, including staffing, ticketing, and visitor logistics.
Was anyone actually denied entry to the tower? BAPS stated that, to its knowledge, no individual was prevented from accessing the tower. The arrangement concerned internal staffing instructions rather than visitor access.
What is the city's response? Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire announced that an internal investigation would begin "as soon as possible" to review how the special-group request was handled.