What to do in case of unreasonable employment contracts?

Questioner

Dear lawyers, Suppose you have a nice job in the field, fixed basic salary, in addition work with a target, if you exceed it you receive commission/bonus. Nice work with a lot of freedom. In the context of the cutbacks it was announced that the target for all field staff was increased, while it was already known afterwards that customers would disappear, there were discussions with colleagues and employer, even all possibilities were suggested to cut back but without result. Nothing was done with it. Afterwards a new colleague was added for 40 hours at the company, and a part-time colleague for a number of hours per week. A month ago everyone from the field service received a message again, some with a target increase and some a percentage reduction. The ground and office staff do not lose anything, they are only not allowed to work overtime anymore and otherwise time for time. Now we disagree again and want to look further into the matter, but it is a small company and do not want to get any wrong faces, hence this letter to you. The motivation of the management is, increase in personnel costs, commission costs, fuel costs, car costs, so actually the people on the road are the most expensive and have to make concessions again and again. On an annual basis, after this 2nd time making concessions, it runs into thousands of euros per person. There is no real collective labor agreement, and no real employment contract and or contracts with the rights and obligations. We have no works council and no personnel representative. In our opinion, something has to be done, is this all allowed and possible and what would be the possibilities to do something about it? Kind regards and thanks in advance.

Lawyer

First of all, a question. How many employees work for you and how many FTEs are involved? There may be obligations for the employer to set up a staff representation or works council (with even more powers).

Questioner

Thank you for your cooperation. Around 12 people full-time, land and office, incl. couple/management. Around 10 field staff full-time. Around 7 part-timers spread throughout the week and on Saturdays. The people who make the decisions unilaterally are 1 company manager who also works in the field, 2 from the office and the management/couple. Thank you very much.

Lawyer

A works council is not mandatory, but if the staff requests it, a PVT is. Among other things, it then has at least the right to advise on decisions that could have significant consequences for the employment or working conditions of at least a quarter of the employees. For more information, see http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/ondernemingsraad/vraag-en-antwoord/wat-is-een-personeelsvoorstellinging-pvt.html Furthermore, you can of course talk to your employer together with your field colleagues about these very one-sided austerity measures. And you can - individually or jointly - seek legal assistance. For this you can contact me or one of the other employment lawyers here directly, without obligation, e.g. via the link 'direct contact' that you - if you are logged in - see with this answer.

Questioner

Thank you very much for your answer. We take your advice very much to heart and there will be another meeting of the field service this week without our manager as he is between two fires, we already have a possible PVT in mind. But before we contact you and want to take legal action, it is important for us to know how strong the management is compared to us, it is a nice company with nice colleagues, we all want to stay there with a good atmosphere and not hop to the competitor, only the atmosphere is a bit different now. Thank you

Lawyer

You're welcome. If necessary, feel free to contact me.

Questioner

We will look up this link again as soon as we have put our heads together and are exactly on the same page, because there were already colleagues who would immediately take tough action. This seems better. Have a nice working day and we will let you know via link and on this site, maybe someone else can use it too.