Louvre strike suspended

The Louvre: $2 million in lost income

PARIS, France -- The Louvre Museum has reopened after being closed for eight days by a strike over working practices.

Trade union workers at the Louvre -- home to the world famous Mona Lisa -- agreed to suspend their strike at a mass meeting on Saturday.

Union leaders said it was not clear whether the employees would return to work permanently.

The union vote came after a Paris court ruled on Friday that the Louvre strike was unauthorised and said the government could remove striking workers who had blocked entry to the museum.

Pickets had kept the gates chained since October 18 in a dispute over new working practices following the introduction of a shorter working week in France.

The injunction gave the Louvre the right to ask police to do the job if the strikers failed to comply.

The riverside museum is among a clutch of publicly owned tourist attractions in Paris that have been hit since March by industrial action.

Workers want extra staff hired so they can enjoy the benefits of a 35-hour working week.

The strikers say they cannot take advantage of the 35-hour week or extra holidays unless there are extra employees because there is not enough staff to cover rotas.

Tourist attractions, including the Arc de Triomphe and the towers of Notre Dame cathedral, have either shut or, occasionally, open free due to a lack of staff to run ticket booths.

Saturday's statement said pickets had stopped 430,000 visitors from entering the Louvre since March, costing the museum 15 million francs ($2 million) in lost income.