Eiffel Tower staff strike after female workers removed from posts for Hindu delegation

Eiffel Tower workers went on strike on Monday after female employees were reportedly sidelined during a private visit by a Hindu delegation.

The CGT trade union said staff were “shocked” by instructions given during the visit, which coincided with a cultural event organised by the BAPS spiritual movement.

“Some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to other areas. In some posts they were replaced by men,” the union said.

The Eiffel Tower’s operating company, SETE, said the delegation had requested arrangements limiting “interactions with women”.

SETE acknowledged that “these conditions should not have been accepted” and said they were not consistent with its values or the principle of equality between men and women.

The strike forced the Eiffel Tower to close for the entire day on Monday as a staff representative said the landmark would reopen normally on Tuesday.

“We are going to shed light on what happened, and we will draw the necessary conclusions,” SETE president Ariel Weil told AFP.

French Equality Minister Aurore Berge also condemned the incident, on X: “In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves. No dogma, no religion is above the laws of the Republic.”