Public sector job cuts: 28 Tertiary Education Commission redundancies mostly women; Crown Law to slash roles

Unionised public servants are concerned women are bearing the brunt of redundancies at the Tertiary Education Commission.

The Public Service Association (PSA) said staff were told the organisation is cutting 28 roles: nine are vacant and the remaining three-quarters are held by women.

NZME can also reveal Crown Law is looking at reducing its full-time equivalents (FTEs) by eight people. The agency confirmed its new structure will go live on July 1.

“Seventeen roles have been disestablished, of which seven are vacant and 10 new roles have been created. Our actual FTE reduction will be eight overall,” Crown Law said.

Crown Law is currently “exploring further cost savings” that can be made.

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is looking at cutting administration and clerical roles, including executive assistants, administrators, executive officers, and business support workers.

Commission chief executive Tim Fowler said its saving target required it to make about $25 million worth of savings over four years.

“To help find savings we went through a line-by-line review of all expenditure, with a focus on lower priority expenditure and services before we made any decisions that had an impact on people,” Fowler told NZME.

The TEC boss said people considered the impact on the sector, learners, and the public when finding savings and proposing changes.

“We focused our attention on the roles that would not reduce or otherwise negatively affect the services that we are here to deliver,” he added.

Finance and Public Service Minister Nicola Willis has said her focus is currently on cutting back-office costs, alongside slashing the use of contractors and consultants.

PSA national secretary Kerry Davies says the union is concerned this pattern will be replicated across the public service, as agencies cut staff.

“The TEC gender pay gap is lower than the 2022 figure of 11.7 per cent. However, it is still above the 2022 Public Service average gender pay gap of 7.7 per cent,” Davies added.

The news comes after NZME revealed sector concerns that job cuts would impact the gender pay gap in the public sector. PSA assistant secretary Fleur Fitzsimons previously told the Herald “the history of public sector cuts in New Zealand is that women suffer disproportionately”.

On the concerns regarding the gender balance of those set to lose their jobs, TEC chief executive Tim Fowler promised the commission was “committed to ensuring that staff are confident, regardless of a person’s gender, ethnicity and other personal attributes, that they will be treated fairly and equally in terms of the impact from the business decisions that we make as a public sector organisation”.

The TEC confirmed 59 per cent of its staff are female.

Public Service Commission data does not give the total FTE headcount for the commission.

Agencies are seeking cost-savings between 6.5 and 7.5 per cent on average, some may go over, and some may fall short of the Government’s targets.

Earlier today, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage confirmed 11 roles are facing the axe - a net loss of 7 per cent of its staff.

MCH spokesperson Stacey Richardson said the ministry was consulting on the change proposal, confirming plans to reduce its number of FTEs from 161 to 150.

The ministry’s reported FTE in 2023 was 184: a number were fixed-term positions that had either come to an end, or were due to finish within months.

Azaria Howell is a Wellington-based multimedia reporter with an eye across the region. She joined NZME in 2022 and has a keen interest in city council decisions, public service agency reform and transport.