Unison Inverclyde says No to Museum Cuts

Museum Cuts

• £68,000 is 27% of the Museum budget; a disproportionate amount to cut for a service this size.

• Since January 2017 the Museum has been closed for a £2.1 million refurbishment. This cut will mean a delay of the re-instatement and opening until 2020. This will have a detrimental effect on any James Watt bi-centenary events in the planning stage.

• The McLean Museum currently has Accreditation with Museum Galleries Scotland/Arts Council England- a loss of professional expertise coupled with a reduction in opening hours is likely to result in this esteemed accreditation being withdrawn.

• The loss of professional expertise will result in reputational damage that will have an impact on tourism locally.

• A reduction in staff capacity will result in the collection becoming static, there will be no development or outreach work done with the collections. This will have an impact on work with schools.

• In addition to reduced opening hours throughout the year a reduction in staff capacity may also lead to greater likelihood of ad hoc closures due to holidays and sickness.

• There was insufficient interest in this service for voluntary redundancy making this saving potentially problematic to deliver.