Source: Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi
Wellington City Council’s decision today to cut 47 jobs across three departments is a short-sighted waste of worker talent and institutional knowledge, the union for council workers – the PSA – says.
Staff in the Planning and Development, Property and Capital Projects, and Economic Engagement & Creative Capital group units were handed down a final decision today that will see 141 roles disestablished and 94 created, for a net reduction of 47 jobs.
Workers affected include those working in climate change response and resilience, mana whenua engagement, administration, and resource consenting.
“These changes are a major disruption to council workers at a time when they are already stretched to the maximum working through amalgamation plans and navigating massive changes to resource management, as well as responding to increasingly damaging storms and other events due to climate change,” Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi national secretary, Duane Leo, says.
“It’s a sad waste to cut experienced staff working in areas critical to the short- and long-term wellbeing of the city.
“Especially when you consider that the council made these changes on account of budgetary restraints – in the same year that they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an AI-penned report that was based on incorrect and outdated information.
“These changes will undoubtedly affect Wellington communities not only in the short-term but in the decades to come.
“They will also profoundly affect the people who will be cut from the council, who will now have to look for work in the local job market, which has been devastated by government austerity. Many of them – especially those with valuable skills – may well be forced to leave Wellington.
“The PSA opposes the cuts and will be supporting staff members through the next steps of the council’s process.”
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.