The Musée d’Orsay was unable to open on Tuesday (22 September) for the first day of its highly-anticipated exhibition, Splendour and Misery: Images of Prostitution 1850-1910, due to a staff strike.
The institution’s labour union voted to strike this morning (22 September) at a general meeting, in protest against a plan to keep the Orsay open to the public seven days a week, starting in November. Our sister paper Le Journal des Arts reported that museum officials met with the ministry of culture today to try and find a solution.
Last week, the French President François Hollande compromised on his desire to have the country’s most visited museums open every day of the week, announcing that the seventh day would be reserved for school visits. The Musée d’Orsay’s staff denounced this as a slippery slope and the union called for a do not work order.
Reached by the Journal des Arts, the General Confederation of Labour of the Musée d’Orsay indicated that the museum already welcomed special groups on Mondays. It added that officials do not question such public access, as long as it remains within the specifications already adopted, and stressed the need for a wider closure.
Also present at the Orsay union’s general meeting were officials from Paris’s other major museums: Versailles, the Louvre, the Grand Palais and the Picasso Museum. The French newspaper Libération reports that another general meeting is planned for Wednesday (23 September) at the museum, when staff will decide whether or not to continue the strike.
UPDATE: the Musée d'Orsay reopened on Thursday (24 September) after the union voted to end the strike. The management of the museum has agreed to delay the extension of opening hours to the winter, when additional members of staff will be appointed.