MOLA announces job cuts

Goodwill at Museum of London Archaeology has hit rock bottom after the organisation told staff that it will be making redundancies in order to “reshape” the organisation

Prospect was called to a meeting with MOLA’s senior managers at the end of January.

The union was expecting to hear a response to proposals it had put forward earlier in month to resolve the ongoing dispute over pay and the introduction of the promised pay and grading system.

But instead the MOLA team handed over a document setting out how redundancies, which may be compulsory, will be used to reshape MOLA. 

Prospect negotiator Andy Bye said: “We raised numerous concerns about the haste of the reshaping process and made it clear that Prospect will oppose compulsory redundancies if all reasonable means of avoiding such redundancies have not been fully explored and implemented.

“We were also clear that large changes in organisations need the goodwill of staff. Unfortunately, goodwill has never been lower because of the broken promises over the introduction of a pay and grading system in April 2019 and last year’s inadequate pay award.”

MOLA did not reveal the number of redundancies and where they will fall. But the document says that London’s Developer Services “will become smaller”.

Research and Engagement in London and Northampton “will be reshaped” and Support Services “will be geared specifically to assisting MOLA achieve its business aims”.

Although Northampton’s Developer Services “is expected to grow”, the document says MOLA “will harmonise the organisation and systems of the London and Northampton project management and field teams in order to achieve greater efficiency and flexibility”.

Discussions were ongoing at the end of February.