1 Dec 2012

Te Papa: 75 jobs already disestablished

5:57 am on 1 December 2012

Te Papa chief executive Mike Houlihan says staff restructuring at the national museum has resulted in 54 employees being invited to apply for 48 new jobs.

Mr Houlihan says the restructuring is not driven by cost cutting but the museum needs to improve its science and technology, cultural heritage and contemporary collections.

He says 75 positions have been disestablished and 21 employees have already been redeployed into new roles.

The remaining 54 affected employees are able to apply for up to three of the 48 new positions, most of which are not yet being advertised externally.

Service & Food Workers Union spokesperson James Sleep says the restructuring is likely to result in at least 30 redundancies, including in specialist collection roles and visitor education positions.

Mr Sleep says that 200 union members on staff are concerned at the impact on the museum of the loss of highly experienced people.

His union represents 46 people among the 115 whose roles he says are being disestablished, and it alleges that the proposed changes are putting the national museum's international standing at risk.

The restructuring is likely to result in at least 30 redundancies by Christmas.

Mr Sleep says staff were only given 10 working days to apply for new jobs, but did not receive the document outlining the new structure and job descriptions for three days.