Photo: Unsplash / RNZ
More than 200 public sector jobs are set to go in announcements from Waka Kotahi, Stats NZ and the Justice Ministry this afternoon.
The Ministry of Justice is proposing to cut more than 100 roles, about about half of which are currently vacant.
It has today begun a four-week consulting with staff about it’s change proposal in a bid to meet government savings targets.
If you are affected or have documents pertaining to the public sector job losses contact Hamish.Cardwell@rnz.co.nz
It would see a net reduction of 123 roles – a total of 11 percent of staff in its national office which does corporate services, policy, legal and strategy functions, and operational support.
Of the roles, 67 are currently vacant, including four frontline administrative roles.
Secretary for Justice Andrew Kibblewhite says it has been a difficult and uncertain time for staff across the ministry and wider public service.
PSA says wheels of justice will slow due to cuts
Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi secretary Duane Leo said the government’s tough on crime promise will be undermined by spending cuts in areas that support the effective functioning of the justice system.
“The wheels of justice may turn slow and for good reason, but they are set to turn even slower.
“The proposed loss of roles at the Ministry of Justice again exposes how poorly thought through the government’s rushed spending cuts have become.
“The changes as proposed will slow decision-making, and bottlenecks will grow as teams consolidate and managers become responsible for more and more.”
Waka Kotahi
Waka Kotahi has announced the latest in its tranche of proposed job losses, with 60 jobs going from its transport services team – the vast majority from vacancies.
The losses are on top of 183 roles previously announced to be going – about 100 of which are due to programmes from the previous government ending.
NZTA group general manager Transport Services Brett Gliddon said its consultation with the transport group will run through until 20 June.
He said the government expects the agency to focus primarily on progressing roading and infrastructure projects, and to move fast on the new roads of national significance programme.
Stats NZ
Meanwhile, Stats NZ has confirmed 84 people have accepted voluntary redundancy.
The majority of these roles were from within Technology, Operations, Commercial and Collections, and Insights and Statistics – its two largest business units.
That’s on top of 29 job losses already announced in December.
And it announced Thursday it intended to make some changes in its Collections team in an effort to modernise and streamline.