employer wants to reduce wage by 50%

doddysgal

My partners work are currently starving him of work and giving it to contractors. He has proof that there was work available when he had asked for it yet they had given all work to a subcontractor.

His employer has recently renewed a contract with company they have been contracted with for over ten years. His company has promised a HUGE cut in the price of the work him and his 2 fellow workers do. This was not discussed with them before this contract was signed. They are currently going through a consultation process. They propose to pay them on price work as they have always done BUT they want to reduce the cost of each job DRAMATICALLY. Employees currently get £100.00 to clean a property from top to bottom including inside windows and in all nooks and crannys. They want to pay employees £28.75 between all 3 for doing the same job from 2 Sept. Three of them share this work so get paid £33.33 each currently but it will be £9.58. Other jobs have also decreased to similar amounts. The amount employer wants to pay is a huge drop in wage and would mean minimum wage top up. This works out to be around 50% less pay per year as we average around 26-7 per year.

What rights do they have if any? This is certainly immoral.
We have seen paperwork and have a copy to say that there is plenty of work for for them to do yet it has all been given to a subcontractor.

Honestly and personally I think they want my partner and his fellow workers to quit. It seems like they are trying to make their lives as hard as possible. Now they have taken away the van in the morning so all three now have to use public transport to get to office to get van from street outside.

Sorry this is so long and thank you to anyone who has read it and can provide ANY help.

Doddysgal.

Southend1

They are actually employees of the company (not self employed contractors)?

Are they union members? Is the union involved in the consultation process?

doddysgal

They are employed by the company not self employed. They have a work contract. We have contacted union as he is a member yet we have heard nothing back from them.

doddysgal

They are with unite. All employees at that branch signed up a few years ago because their company where taking 8% from their wage for holiday pay.

Southend1

This is a situation where the union should definitely be involved and helping to negotiate a solution on behalf of the employees. How did you make contact with the union? If the local shop steward or branch isn't engaging, call unite and ask for one of the regional team to help out. Make it clear that the situation is urgent as consultation has already begun. Your partner should encourage his colleagues to all contact the union individually as well, so they are aware how many staff this effects.

redpete

Are you saying that they will now get £28.50 each instead of £100 shared between the three of them>

If so this is a drop of 14%. Or are you saying that they are getting less work as well which is resulting in the 50% drop in income?

doddysgal

No I meant they will share 28.75 between 3 of them. Sorry. I wish that was the case.

Southend1

doddysgal wrote: »

No I meant they will share 28.75 between 3 of them. Sorry. I wish that was the case.

How long does the employer allow for each job?

How long does each job actually take if carried out to spec?

doddysgal

Before new contract there was no time put on each job as each job differs due to size of property and how clean tenants were. Time spent can vary from an hour to a day or so. Now they give the 3 of them 50 minutes for this particular job regardless of how big or small the job. Any time spent over that is unpaid unless they do not reach nmw. They are contracted to work 42.5 hours BUT are not paid between jobs for travelling or collecting resources. Oh and they don't want them to sign a new contract. I think theyve altered the contracts since they were written tbh as my partners contract was an hourly rate when he first started (no, cant find a copy) as he did a different job altogether (working on converting 2 properties into one) yet his contract we got a copy of recently tells us he's contracted on price per job. Not sure how we question this? IF we can.

They are going to be using schedule of rates v6.1. NO ONE UNDERSTANDS it fully NOT even my manager!

doddysgal

Can they do this? He has second consultation tomorrow and although I have tried to get him union representative I am having no luck. It seems almost hopeless.

Southend1

doddysgal wrote: »

Can they do this? He has second consultation tomorrow and although I have tried to get him union representative I am having no luck. It seems almost hopeless.

If the union have not had a chance to review what has happened so far, you should ask for the consultation meeting to be postponed.

What have you done with regard to liaising with the union? Has the rep been briefed on what's happening? Has he discussed with OH what the next step should be?