how long can they reduce you rates of pay?

[indebt2009]

Hi, here is the basics.
2 1/2 years ago the company my husband works for said they needed all the lorry drivers to take a pay cut down to minimum wage so that they didn't need to cut jobs, until they reached an amount of profit that allowed them to raise it again including any pay rises they were due, Their rep advised them all and said it looked like it would only be about 6 months. He has since left and they have no rep at the moment and I am wondering if that is why they are still on half the wages they used to be on.

The thing is how do they know when the company is making a profit and is it not in their interest not to make much of one and to buy new lorries etc to keep profits down.

I think he should look to work elsewhere as other exact jobs are paying better and at the end of the day its a skilled job he has paid to get into, seems unlikely he should be on minimum wage for so long. He says everyone is in the same boat but he hasn't talked to anyone. Its not law that everyone doing the same job gets paid exactly the same amount, it should be but I don't think it is but maybe I am wrong.

Please help we are going to end up in debt again if this gets any worse and I really don't want that to happen.
Thanks for your time

[leclerc]

Re: how long can they reduce you rates of pay?

I would say that if he can get a better paid job elsewhere doing a job he likes doing then he should look for a better job elsewhere. Furthermore, unless you have something in writing about when wages would go up, then unfortunately, the company have no commitment to change the current pay structure.

[indebt2009]

Re: how long can they reduce you rates of pay?

He has got the contract in writing but they are held at the company so roughly it states when the company is in enough profit they will be brought back to full pay including any pay rises that they will be owed. How can they tell if the the company is in profit? If he finds it is he best to try and negotiate on his own or with other drivers?

[leclerc]

Re: how long can they reduce you rates of pay?

He has got the contract in writing but they are held at the company so roughly it states when the company is in enough profit they will be brought back to full pay including any pay rises that they will be owed. How can they tell if the the company is in profit? If he finds it is he best to try and negotiate on his own or with other drivers?

I think the definition of "enough profit" is a vague definition because I would say no profit is enough profit, so to speak.
The wording should be more specific.

Is he in a Union or is there no union membership?