We the undersigned call on Southend-on-Sea Borough Council to abandon planned cuts to opening hours and to 'front of house' jobs (typically the people who you will meet staffing museum venues) in the Borough’s Museums service. This service covers the Central Museum, the Beecroft Gallery, Southchurch Hall and Prittlewell Priory.

Southend’s museums are a great source of community access to educational resources, history, culture and leisure. They also represent an important attraction for visitors to the town.

Current Council proposals to cut opening hours and front of house staffing will reduce public access to these venues and put in jeopardy events, activities and developments for the future. Museum venues will typically now only be open from 11am to 4pm.

• The proposal to cut 28 ‘Peak Relief’ job equates to losing over 42 hours of available museum staff time each week. This will impact on the capacity of Museums venues to open for visitors and events in the future. These are not ‘zero hours’ contracts but are flexible posts which staff have held for many years. Experienced and committed colleagues are likely to be lost from our museums.
• As well as cutting ‘Peak Relief’ it is proposed to replace a number of full time posts with part time ones. This is not how we expect the Council to act as a leading employer in Southend who should be setting an example of high standards in local employment.
• These cuts are not inevitable. They are a ‘false economy’ which will damage jobs and services for the community of Southend just when we should be investing in reopening for the future.

This petition has been organised by Southend-on-Sea Local Government branch of UNISON, the trade union representing the threatened staff.