Source: Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi
- 45 roles cut, more than 11% of the workforce
- Specialist person managing the critical music hire service let go, future delivery of service unclear
- Staff, union and community concerns brushed aside, more changes signalled
National Library Archives NZ is pressing ahead with deep cuts despite an outcry from choirs, orchestras, historians, and staff, leaving its workforce around 15% smaller than it was two years ago.
Staff were given the final decision today which results in the axing of around 45 full-time roles (see detail below).
“Historians, researchers, choirs, orchestras and many others spoke out loudly and strongly against these cuts and yet they’ve been ignored. It’s a slap in the face for staff and the many communities they serve,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“It’s also completely inappropriate for such significant decisions to be made this close to the election.
“Preserving our precious history is not a nice to have, it’s critical. Yet this institution is being deliberately downgraded on the back of the Government’s spending cuts with little thought to the future. It leaves an already stretched and demoralised workforce expected to shoulder a rising burden.
“What will alarm the many choirs, bands and orchestras across the country is the decision to press ahead with axing the experienced person running the music hire service. The National Library has failed to ease their concerns and still can’t say how the service will be delivered in future.
“It’s even justifying the cut by pointing to falling use. Try telling that to the community choirs and orchestras who hire scores for a fraction of what they’d pay overseas, or who rely on New Zealand music, like the Douglas Lilburn collection, that can’t be found anywhere else.
“Staff warned in submissions of lost expertise, rising workloads, growing backlogs and reduced access. The agency admits those concerns are ‘real’, then brushes them aside and presses ahead with almost every cut. And it warns staff to ‘expect to see more changes’, adding yet more uncertainty for this vital institution.”
National Library Archives NZ says it must reduce spending by 10% over the next four years on top of making savings under Budget 2026.
“This is the Government’s approach everywhere: cut first, worry about the consequences later,” said Fitzsimons. “Just last week, GeoNet’s 24/7 earthquake monitoring centre shut down twice in a matter of days because there weren’t enough staff to run it.
“That’s why the PSA is calling for a public good test before agencies cut jobs, and why, come 7 November, we need a new government that properly values the vital institutions New Zealanders rely on like National Library and Archives NZ.”
Background
- Final decisions cut the workforce from 396.7 to 351.8 FTE, a reduction of 44.9 FTE (11.3%). The September proposal would have cut 46.9 FTE.
- Of the roles disestablished, 38.2 FTE are vacant.
- The Coordinator Music Access role is disestablished; with the agency saying the music hire service continues but there is no detail on the new access model.
- The new structure takes effect on 30 November 2026.
Previous statement
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.