The Louvre is closed today — Mon 5/27. Workers are striking.

Sounds like another typical day in Paris...

There's also a strike affecting (not totally eliminating) bus service in the French Basque Country today. I haven't seen an explanation for this one.

Kim, thanks for keeping us up to date. You are appreciated!

What are the strikers' demands? More manageable crowds? Higher pay? Both?

According to this, it has to do with the ever-increasing number of visitors - employees say that while there are even more people visiting, the staffing situation remains the same as before, so they are effectively protesting under-staffing.

Are you sure they're not just taking Memorial Day off?
:-)

The whole point of using technology - including advanced booking, automated gate entry and kiosks, and the like - is to accommodate more people more efficiently with either the same (or likely lower) staffing levels. Crowds at the Louvre are only going to grow, and managing them better may not necessarily require more staff, as politically unpalatable as that is to the workers. Just for comparison, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC had a record breaking 7.4 million visitors in 2018, compared to 10.2 at the Louvre. The Met and other prominent US museums are also seeing large year-to-year increases in recent years. The Met is open 7 days a week (and is open late twice a week in summer).

Memorial Day is not a French holiday.