Secretary of the Southern Local Government Officers' Union Angela Watson said yesterday the council appeared to have underestimated the number of librarians it employed by about three and a-half fulltime equivalent positions.
''It means they've got three more people than what they know they've got.''
The 265-page document, leaked to the media last week, talks of reducing staff at the Queenstown and Wanaka libraries from 15.12 full-time positions to 10.68.
That would be a reduction in staff of 4.4. Elsewhere in the document a figure of 3.4 is used, although it is unclear how a vacancy for a librarian is counted.
But figures obtained by the ODT show staffing reductions in the detail of the document total 6.95.
Ms Watson believes until there is clarity around the numbers, the consultation period with library staff should be extended.
''It might also be that in looking at how they are going to staff [the library service], they have a misunderstanding of how many people they have already got employed to cover the hours necessary.
''They maybe think they can reduce to a lower number than what is sensible for them to reduce to and still be able to provide the service that's being provided by the library at the moment.''
Mrs Watson said the union, which has a ''small number'' of members among council staff, was requesting additional time, partly because of the size of the document and how it is set out.
''It's a very big document and it's a little difficult to read.
''Sometimes they separate the library manager's role from the other librarians' roles so it gets a bit confusing about who they are talking about.''
Ms Watson did not consider having confusion in the report was acceptable. You assume when they put together a document, they've got all of the information right, especially in regard to the number of current employees.
''It's disconcerting because you kind of wonder if those figures are wrong, are there other figures that are wrong?'' The council had not responded to the ODT by late yesterday.
