The China Mail - Louvre closes for the day due to strike

"The museum is not opening today," said a spokesperson for the most-visited museum in the world.

Trade unions are pressing for more recruitment, pay and better maintenance of the vast former royal palace, and have launched several days of strikes in recent months.

Nearly 140 new hires have been announced since the start of the strike movement in mid-December, and another meeting was scheduled at the culture ministry on Thursday to discuss salary increases.

Some union leaders were also contesting museum director Laurence des Cars' management style which they view as remote and inflexible.

"If we get the pay but continue with this governance model, we won’t be out of the woods," Valerie Baud of the CFDT union told AFP.

"There may be announcements, but we are still dealing with a management that digs its heels in and doesn’t recognise that it can sometimes be wrong,” added her colleague Elise Muller from the SUD union.

The two days of museum closures in December and earlier in January have resulted in a loss of "at least one million euros" in revenue, management said.

The security failures highlighted by a spectacular break-in at the museum on October 19 have cast a harsh spotlight on management of the institution and des Cars, who has apologised.

Footage of the heist was broadcast for the first time on French television on Sunday evening, showing the brazen jewel thieves breaking into display cases.

J.Thompson--ThChM