Staff at the Musée d’Art Contemporain downtown told Le Devoir they're worried the museum will slash their working hours as it undergoes a major renovation project.
Starting in the new year, the MAC will partially close while it undergoes a major expansion to its site at Place des Arts. Most of the museum's day-to-day operations will be migrated to a new temporary location being tentatively referred to as the "mini-MAC" for four years.
A spokesman for the Quebec Public Service and Public Service Union (SFPQ) explained to Le Devoir that its unclear when that move is even taking place. Jean-Francois Sylvestre also told the newspaper that employees have been told once the museum takes up its new residence their 104 employees will see their hours reduced by more than half, to just 14 hours a week.
Sylvestre also wondered what the working environment will be like at the museum in 2019.
The museum will close on the 21st of January, but full-time employees will continue to work their regular schedules on site until the end of March. What kind of work those employees, many of them receptionists or general technicians, will do remains to be seen.
One worker told Le Devoir, "I think we're going to make boxes and wash the windows, maybe?"