Auckland Museum bosses have called in one of their most senior workers over a letter to the editor printed in the Herald - again throwing the spotlight on the institution.
John Cowan, head of finances and facilities, is thought to have been censured and called in to a
meeting yesterday.
It followed the letter penned in response to a Weekend Herald feature story on the museum's controversial restructure.
In the letter, Cowan clarified certain points, included figures for positions "disestablished" and said it was policy for affected staff to get redundancy payouts if they were not appointed to other roles.
"So far, numerous staff have been paid redundancy. The chairman's statement that no one has been made redundant is incorrect," he wrote.
Under the restructure, lead by new museum director Vanda Vitali, the heads of several high-profile figures have rolled, including director of Maori Paul Tapsell, manager of public programmes James Dexter and education services manager Peter Millward.
Others - including Cowan - are now on short-term contracts.
Cowan would not comment when contacted yesterday afternoon.
It is understood he claimed to have written the letter as a private citizen but that the museum took issue over a suggested breach of its policy on vetting statements to media.
The letter did not mention that the writer was an employee of the museum and ran with the sign-off of "John Cowan, Mission Bay".
Museum marketing manager Margi Mellsop said she could not talk about the specifics of the case.
She also said she could not talk on the broader issue of the museum's media relations policy or the process employees were required to follow if making public statements.
"Don't know, sorry, I have to find out on that one," she said.
A spokesman for union NZ Public Services Association (PSA) said 54 of its members were employees of the museum. He said the PSA hoped to know more details of the restructure, including how many jobs would go, this week.
