PARIS — The chief executive of the company operating the Eiffel Tower announced that he will resign at year‑end after female employees were barred from a Hindu delegation’s visit to the site.
Patrick Branco Ruivo, director general of the Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE), will leave his post after an investigation conducted by an independent firm uncovered a series of operational failures in relation to the visit on Sept. 5.
The failures resulted “in female staff being excluded from the visit that day, an unacceptable situation,” a SETE statement on Tuesday said. Ruivo was appointed at the end of 2018.
The Eiffel Tower, which attracts 7 million visitors a year, was closed on Sept. 7 due to a staff strike in protest over what a union official described as “unacceptable” management instructions.
Anger grew among staff of the 330-meter (1,083-foot) iconic landmark after management told employees that female workers should not be in contact with the delegation from Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha.
The group, known as BAPS, is a worldwide religious and civic organization within the Swaminarayan sect, a branch of Hinduism. It had been holding celebrations to mark the inauguration of a traditional Hindu stone temple in Paris.
Ariel Weil, chair of SETE, said on Tuesday she has requested measures and training programs promoting gender equality to be implemented.
It was not the first time the 137-year-old tower has been closed by industrial action. It was shut for six days in February 2024 because of striking employees demanding better maintenance of the historic landmark, and higher wages.
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