Applause was loud for the security and fire safety services during the General Assembly of strikers at the Center Pompidou held on Thursday January 11. During the two weeks of school holidays, their coordination allowed a complete closure of the Center: a more visible mode of action than that of the rolling strike adopted during the first three months of the mobilization.
While the movement has lasted thirteen weeks, the strikers have reduced the scope of their demands to two major points, the non-outsourcing of services and the maintenance of the employment ceiling. And moreover, these demands now only relate to the duration of the work planned in the Center Pompidou (announced over five years), where the inter-union previously demanded that they be applied “before, during and after” the construction site. “We have only one wish for this new year, and that is to finally be able to sign this protocol”declared Philippe Mahé, FO delegate from the Center Pompidou.
Taking note of the impossibility of the ministry and the management of the center to commit beyond 2030, the unions adapted their demands to facilitate an agreement. During a Social Administration Committee at the Ministry of Culture, the staff delegates present saw a ” launch window “ for these demands recalibrated in the responses formulated by the secretary general of rue de Valois.
The Center Pompidou on strike, Saturday November 23, 2023.
© Photo Ludovic Sanejouand for LeJournaldesArts.fr
“The presidency and management of the Center are fully mobilized to achieve the rapid signing of the memorandum of understanding”, also provides management. The latter recalls having given “strong guarantees to the main demands of the movement”but which have not been the subject of written commitments satisfactory with regard to the inter-union.
The request for a single location to continue the Center’s actions during the work was left aside by the strikers. That of maintaining remuneration is on track, except for the particular fate of the Center’s tour guides, whose additional hours are not included in the agreement.
“The Center must commit to taking them into account, because these hours in fact constitute the actual work of the tour guides, who have been asking for years to include them in their contract”, explains Olivier Melt, UNSA-Pompidou secretary. Management will meet with the inter-union on this subject in the coming days: “the public management brings together the speakers to define the perspectives of their missions during the closure”she also recalls.
Centre Pompidou.
© Julien Fromentin