24 November 2009 - 18H23
Paris Pompidou Centre staff prolong strike
A general view of the Pompidou Centre modern art museum taken in June 2009 in Paris, during a private visit of US President Barack Obama and his family. Staff at the Pompidou Centre decided Tuesday to extend their strike over planned job cuts at the Paris mecca of modern and contemporary art.
AFP - Staff at the Pompidou Centre decided Tuesday to extend their strike over planned job cuts at the Paris mecca of modern and contemporary art.
Museum staff and security guards walked off the job on Monday and after meeting with aides to Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand, they decided against going back to work.
The meeting "did not go well," a union official said.
The museum is closed to the public on Tuesdays and unions called another meeting on Wednesday to vote on whether to continue the strike.
The unions fear 400 of the 1,100 jobs at the centre known as Beaubourg will be cut over the next 10 years under a government plan to trim down its payroll by not replacing retiring staff.
More than 40 percent of staff at the Pompidou Centre are over the age of 50. Legal retirement age in France is 70.
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