Wales’ cultural heritage will be hit hard by jobs cut and museum closures, says the PCS union.
Seven national museums and one collection centre across Wales will see a minimum of 90 job losses and the National Museum Cardiff may be forced to close after huge funding cuts.
Cuts also criticised by anti-austerity group and broadcaster Dr Alice Roberts
A trade union representing workers in the culture sector has hit out at plans to radically cut jobs and services at Wales’ most prestigious museums.
Reacting to news that a minimum of 90 jobs could be lost at various sites across Wales and that the National Museum Cardiff may close, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has said it will ‘resist’ and compulsory redundancies.
Amgueddfa Cymru, the charity that governs Wales’ national museums, says it was facing a total funding deficit of £4.5m by the end of March this year, comprising a £3m reduction in its grant funding from Welsh government and a year-on-year deficit of £1.5m.
The cut was announced just before Christmas and since then a protest has been held outside the Senedd in February by the PCS union. The protest called for an increase of spending on museums instead of cutting funding.
“Following a decade of underfunding, the culture sector in Wales has been hit particularly hard by the Welsh government’s Budget,” PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said at the time.
“We’ve made it clear that we want to engage with the museum to help mitigate the impact of these cuts but we will resist any compulsory job losses.”
Also commenting on the news of the cuts, Professor Alice Roberts, the well known academic and TV broadcaster, called it “desperately sad news” and that she had spent “many hours behind the scenes… poring over skeletal collections at National Museum Wales, working with archaeologists there…[sic]”
“Our society and culture is impoverished if we lose them [museums]”
Adam Johannes, from Cardiff People’s Assembly, a group which previously led successful campaigns to halt cuts to the arts and the Cardiff Story Museum, said that the Welsh Government should fight to protect services, not cut them.
“Our National Museum is not just an old and beautiful building with its collections. It is also our museum workers,” he said.
“Workers who deeply care for our culture and heritage, who make it accessible to all, and have many skills and talents that could forever be lost to the public amid brutal job cuts.”
The Welsh government should try to secure funding for the museums, Johannes said. “The Welsh Government must not act as local conduits of Tory austerity making cuts to our culture and heritage, but fight Westminster for the funding Wales needs.”
But despite the alarming situation of the cultural sites in the Welsh capital and across the country, Wales new First Minister Vaughan Gathing has signalled that he wouldn’t step in to alter the budget cut.
“We set out there would be reductions in some areas and that’s painful and difficult,” he said. “The museum is just one of those, there are many, many more. I don’t celebrate having to make those choices but I can’t be honest with the people of Wales about having priorities if I’m not prepared to make choices.”
He pitted the cultural sector against health, social care and local government, despite cuts also facing those sectors as well. “If the NHS really is our priority and we are to invest in it, you can’t have that consequence-free.”
The lack of funding also means that Amgueddfa Cymru will not even be able to fix the condition of the building of the National Museum Cardiff, the chief executive has said.
“So when you have water coming through and failing electrics, there is a question hanging over the future of that building anyway,” Jane Richardson said of the museum which attracted 344,000 visitors in the year to March.
The Cardiff museum is not only home to historical artefacts, but also a large body of important art work.
“The National Museum houses, amongst other treasures, one of the finest collections of Impressionist and post-impressionist painting to be found anywhere,” said Morgan Haigh, an art historian and archivist at Llandaff Cathedral. “This is not just a national embarrassment but an embarrassment for the whole UK.”
Ms Richardson ruled out the introduction of an entry fee, which she said would leave the organisation worse off as it would lose tax advantages as a result. Any mover to charge for entry could also severely limit accessibility and end one of the few remaining free cultural activities left.
Instead, the museums will encourage donations by visitors and charge for special events. However wider opening hours will also be cut.
Last week, the National Slate Museum in Gwynedd, one of the seven museums run by Amgueddfa Cymru, was awarded a £412,000 lottery grant.
Ms Richardson said: “However, if we were to get further cuts on that scale, I would need to be very honest with government and with all our stakeholders that we could not continue to run as the size of museum we are now.”
A petition has been launched urging the government to increase funding for the museums.
It states: “Amid severe cuts to school budgets, and with Welsh society facing challenges in the context of poverty and failings in the provision of health and care services, holding on to the institutions that sustain and grow our country and our communities, thereby allowing future generations to build on the solid foundations of past successes, is as important as ever.”
The petition has yet to receive 10,000 signatures to be considered for a debate in the Senedd.
The PSC is currently engaged in strike action in Liverpool over pay for museum workers. After an 8-week strike, workers will walk out for a further 30 days to protest against bosses’ failure to make a cost-of-living payment.
No industrial action has been announced yet in the case of Cardiff and Wales.
A spokesman said: “We have been clear our budget is up to £700m less in real terms than when it was set in 2021 and we have had to take extremely difficult decisions.”
