Opinions about a proposed pay cut in work

LegacyUser

I am hoping to get some impartial advice regarding a situation in work.

I work for a family run business in an industry that has really taken a hammering over the last few years in the recession. We are a small company and have been quite lucky so far in that there have been no lay off’s or pay cuts so far. We were called in to the managers office yesterday and told that all our wages were to be reduced by 10%. I don’t have a massive issue with pay cuts in theory, as we have been pretty lucky to escape pay cuts so far in the industry we are in.

However, the business is terribly badly run. The staff have been suggesting ideas to increase the business for years now, and nothing is ever done. There is no accountability at all between the supervisors and the manager, basically there are people in supervisory roles that have been allowed to coast along, have done nothing to try and procure more business and basically treat the job like it’s one big doss. The manager isn’t much better, he does nothing all day, he procrastinates on all decisions and spends much of the day wandering around the office. It’s pretty disconcerting to say the least. If we go to him and voice an issue, he says he’ll look into it, and then nothing more is ever done. A prime example of how badly the place is run, a couple of weeks ago, we basically turned away thousands of euro worth of business, because the supervisor of that department felt it was ‘too much work’. We have meetings every month or so and it’s agreed that we will do X and Y to try and get more business, but the supervisors never actually do anything about it and the manager never chases it up, so every meeting is the same suggestions and half hearted promises and nothing is ever followed through.

In addition to this, a new member of staff was hired in January for a department that didn’t have enough work for the people that were already there. It is really annoying the rest of the staff that we all have to take a 10% pay cut when this person is absolutely not needed. There are other stupid things like overtime still being paid on a Saturday, even though there is not enough work to keep us going through the week!

I voiced all these concerns yesterday when I was told about the pay cut and basically all of my complaints were dismissed like they were nothing. I’m not the only member of staff who is disgruntled, we all have been getting steadily more and more disillusioned with the place as our ideas and suggestions are repeatedly ignored or put on the long finger.

I would not have a problem with the pay cut if every other avenue had been explored, but we all feel that this is the lazy option, cutting pay across the board regardless of performance rather than try and solve the problems in the business. We have been told we have to sign a new contract next week. A few of us (more than half) are thinking of refusing to sign as a way of making a stand about the way the place is run. I am just wondering what the ramifications would be of not signing the new contracts? Can you be made redundant for not signing? I just want to re-iterate, it is not the pay cut in itself that I have a problem with, it is the fact that a viable business is being run into the ground and when we raise the issue, our concerns are dismissed. I think if we stood together and refused to take the cuts, it might make management stand up and listen to what we have to say. But obviously we wouldn’t want to put ourselves in a situation where we might lose our jobs. Any opinions much appreciated.

Eoin

Can you be made redundant for not signing?

Kind of. You can be made redundant if required savings are not made. But redundancy should not be a disciplinary / grievance procedure. Roles are made redundant, not people. They could end up in trouble if they let people go specifically for not agreeing to change their contractually agreed terms.

But if they do let people go, then they have to make the redundancy payouts and try and make do without those staff. Or they have to change all the job titles and descriptions enough to re-hire & train cheaper staff under the guise of them being different roles that had been made redundant.

From this page:

Being asked to reduce your pay or hours of work
When your employer has a downturn in business or there is less work for you to do, your employer may ask you to take a pay cut or to work fewer hours. You should consider this request very carefully. If your employer's business activity is reduced, this may mean that if you don’t accept a reduction in your working hours or pay you may lose your job due to redundancy.

Sorry this doesn't really help you one way or the other