Have name changed for this. DH has been in his job for 6 years now. The company was taken over by another about 2 years ago. At the time they said they would honour the current contracts of all the workers, no changes.
The work he does is manual and permanent nights. He does 5 days per week, Monday - Friday at a flat weekly rate. (Around £420 pw before tax and deductions). Although the wage is low, the way it always worked meant if they can get the work done quickly they can leave when finished. He starts at 1am and sometimes finishes around 5-6am, but can finish as early as 4.30-5am on slow nights.
The company now want all workers to sign a new contract that means they'll be doing 6 days per week some weeks and 5 days others, but always working Saturdays. They'll also be doing much more work so hours will be longer. He'd be getting a pay rise to £500 pw.
DH (and I) don't want him to do this. He only just about recovers from working 5 nights per week over the weekend. Working Saturdays means he doesn't get a proper rest and the extra work will take a toll on his health. He's not in ill health now, but he is starting to get a bad back and sore hips. He's 52 so not the sort of work he wants to be doing til retirement TBH.
There's pretty much no way out of signing the new contract, as they need to make changes to cut costs (apparently). He's going to hand his notice in I think, and is already looking and applying for new jobs. My question is can they force him to sign the new contract, if he didn't quit? What's the best avenue for him here? Is it best to just look for something new and hand his notice in?