ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A change.org petition that nearly reached its goal on Wednesday demands The Dali hire former employees back who were let go after the St. Petersburg museum received a federal loan from the Paycheck Protection Program.

“The Dali Museum, a local St. Pete institution since 1982, recently fired many local staff members after taking a large sum of PPP money earmarked to help ‘small businesses’ retain employees during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, while retaining highly-paid upper management,” the petition reads.

The petition was created by a user called Innocent Bystander and it's titled 'Shame on you, Dali Museum.' The petition demands the former employees be returned to earning a living.

"The museum has caused grave financial injury (including families losing their health insurance in the middle of a pandemic) to these former employees who worked relentlessly," according to the petition.

The Dali Museum declined a request for an interview. Instead, the museum sent Spectrum Bay News 9 the following statement:

"Since our primary revenue source is visitation, being closed for 14 weeks during the pandemic has had a significant financial impact – especially at the height of tourism season. 

The Dalí was able to maintain all staff at full pay from its own operational budget for four weeks following the closure while applying for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. The Museum received the loan and worked with our bank and outside CPA counsel to follow all guidelines associated with the funding. The loan was used to cover full pay for all Museum employees for an additional eight weeks, despite remaining closed with no incoming revenue. Like most businesses that received the loan, the PPP funding allowed us to retain our full staff longer than we would have been able to otherwise.

Following the PPP period, we retained over 80% of our staff, then resumed paying retained employees with our own funds while working on a re-opening strategy. The retained staff took a reduction in pay, and senior staff members took a greater percentage cut.

The largest part of the Museum's reduction in expenses has been achieved through operational expense reductions. The Dali cut non-staff expenses almost in half and is operating on minimal budgets to retain as many staff as possible despite the anticipated challenging financial forecast. In addition, we have rehired employees from eliminated positions and placed them in part-time positions that had staff vacancies. 

We are determined to reinvent ourselves in the spirit of Dalí himself, to remain a vibrant institution, a pride to the community in this new era and beyond."

The Dali Museum reopened its doors to the public on Wednesday with new safety measures and hours in place. 

The goal of the change.org petition was to reach 500 signatures. On Wednesday, it had received 465 signatures.