Paris museums

Paris museums closed by strike

PARIS (Reuter): A strike by employees demanding more pay and better working conditions closed down most of the major museums in Paris on Wednesday, the Culture Ministry said.

A spokeswoman said the Louvre, Orsay, Picasso, Rodin and Chagall museums in Paris and the Palace of Versailles near the French capital were affected by the 24-hour walkout.

The four unions which organized the strike by about 2,500 employees said the staff were getting insufficient reward for increasingly complex duties. They also said that the flow of visitors has increased proportionally faster than the number of personnel and they want the management to hire more staff.