Widescale job cuts at one of the world's most visited public art galleries are an attack on art and the institution's heart and soul, protesting workers say.
Dozens of Art Gallery of NSW staff walked off the job on Wednesday, shouting "no more cuts" and carrying placards with the face of state arts minister John Graham photoshopped on the Mona Lisa.
The Sydney gallery is looking to save $7.5 million by slashing one in eight full-time-equivalent roles, drawing condemnation from the union.
Wednesday's stop-work action was the first walk-off taken in a decade.
"These are not excess roles, these are not luxuries, these are the people who are the heart and soul of the gallery. They are more than a number," the Public Services Association's Anne Keneally told reporters.
"They expanded to two buildings, yet staff will be expected to deliver more with less - it's a set-up to fail."
The draft restructure would reduce the gallery's workforce from 382 to 330 full-time-equivalent roles after recent expansions in headcount.
It follows the state government's announcement in June to cut a quarter of its Create NSW arts funding agency's staff.
About 950 jobs are also to be axed at the transport department to save $600 million, while some 300 WaterNSW jobs are on the chopping block.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the scrapping of senior jobs was a part of his campaign to trim the bureaucratic fat.
In July he said jobs were being redirected to front-line, public-facing roles such as police, nurses and teachers.
The NSW public sector employs some 450,000 people, making it the largest employer nationwide.
But the union says gallery staff were being painted out of the picture after recent expansions to gallery space.
"Real-life people with rent and food to put on the table are losing their jobs," Aneshka Mora, a former employee with the gallery who turned up in support of her colleagues, told AAP.
"It just doesn't feel fair because other industries don't suffer the same precarity as the arts."
Mr Graham, who is due to face a budget estimates hearing on Thursday, said "the composition of staff changes is a matter for the gallery and will be informed by the consultation".
The government noted it is investing almost $1.4 billion into arts and culture.
The Art Gallery of NSW welcomed more than 2.3 million visitors in 2024, and is ranked the 26th most visited museum in the world by trade publication The Art Magazine.
