France's famous Eiffel Tower was kept closed for some time on Monday and its opening was delayed. The reason was the protest by the employees. The employees allege that during the personal visit of about 100 people associated with the Hindu religious organization BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) on Saturday, the women employees were asked to leave their workplace so that male employees could stand in their place.
Resentment increased among the Eiffel Tower employees regarding this incident. After the matter came to light, senior French politicians have also criticized it. The Paris administration has ordered an investigation into the entire matter.
Union representative Diane Davoin told Reuters news agency that female workers were asked to leave their workplaces as the delegation passed so that they could be replaced by male workers.
According to Davoin, tensions continued to rise among employees throughout the weekend following the incident. After this the employees decided to hold a meeting on Monday morning. He said the staff meeting had two main objectives. Firstly, to discuss the issue with the management and secondly to ensure that this type of behavior does not happen again to women in the company in future.
The opening of the Eiffel Tower was delayed due to a staff meeting. Davoin said that the management has also apologized to the employees regarding this incident.
BAPS, on the other hand, said that the visit of the delegation was decided in coordination with the Eiffel Tower authorities. According to the organization, its objective is to ensure minimum disturbance to the common tourists and to maintain normal access to the monument.
BAPS said in a statement issued on Thursday that the visit by the large delegation of about 100 people was planned after talks with the management of the Eiffel Tower in advance of its regular opening hours. According to the organization, this was done so that there is less inconvenience to the common people.
The organization said it was not aware of any incident in which any tourist was prevented from entering the Eiffel Tower during the tour.
However, BAPS regretted the entire controversy and said it sincerely apologized if the situation caused any offense or inconvenience to anyone.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregor has ordered an investigation regarding this matter. He said that the concerns of the Eiffel Tower employees are legitimate and need immediate attention. SETE, the company that operates the Eiffel Tower, admitted that the delegation had requested to arrange the tour in such a way that interaction with women would be minimal. SETE also admitted that such conditions should not have been accepted.