Poor communication from management is keeping Te Pūkenga staff in the dark about job losses at the mega-polytechnic, National’s Tertiary Education spokesperson Penny Simmonds says.

“It is disgraceful that amid this major restructuring staff are not being kept informed, with poor communication and low staff morale a recurring problem for Te Pūkenga.

“Despite the entity’s restructuring plan being announced three weeks ago, staff are still not being given sufficient information about the proposed job cuts.

“Last week Otago Polytechnic staff spoke out about a lack of detail, UCOL Tertiary Education Union members expressed similar concerns, and Southern Institute of Technology and Bay of Plenty polytechnic staff have said they were blindsided.

“It is not acceptable that staff, whose jobs on the line, are being left in the dark like this and it’s further impacting on low morale.

“We know that at least 950 jobs are affected, with 400 people set to permanently lose positions and 500 reapplying alongside external applicants, but technical issues within days of the announcement forced Te Pūkenga CE Peter Winder to apologise to staff because they couldn’t access more detail.

“This follows staff criticism of Mr Winder, in April, after he publicly announced these job cuts in a radio interview before staff were informed.

“Staff have made it clear that they feel undervalued, with a leaked Te Pūkenga survey in March revealing that the vast majority would not recommend working there.

“This latest information vacuum around job losses will do nothing to improve morale, with Te Pūkenga management apparently oblivious to how crucial staff are to the polytechnic and trades training sector.

“Te Pūkenga management have failed to submit their annual accounts on time, failed to rein in their huge financial deficits, failed to turn around declining student numbers and continue to fail their staff.”