Adjustment of collective labor agreement: no ATV, 40 hours of work and 38 hours paid

Questioner

Our company is in reorganization. In order to save money, a proposal has been made for a CAO amendment in which the Atv days will be canceled. My contract is as follows: work 40 hours, get paid for 38 hours, which means you build up ATV days. The union members voted for this collective labor agreement change (I am not a member of the union myself) and it was voted in favor. The change came into effect on 1 January 2022. I was not personally informed of this. However, a general email was sent out indicating that the union members had agreed to the CAO change (the effective date of 1 January is not mentioned). On January 6, an email was sent from HR to my manager stating the start date of January 1, 2022. The manager forwarded this email to me on January 17. I have not received an adjusted contract. So I still have my old contract which states that I am building up ATV days. In addition, I was verbally told that I have to continue working 40 hours, but will be paid for 38 hours. Is this allowed this way? And is it correct that I have to continue working 40 hours?

Lawyer

In principle, someone cannot simply be expected to do the same work for less money/rights. But it is always important to know exactly what the situation is. What kind of collective labor agreement is involved (what has changed?) and what exactly does your contract say? There are different types of collective labour agreements. Standard collective labour agreements and minimum collective labour agreements. In the case of minimum collective labour agreements, deviations in an employment contract may be made in favour of the employee. In the case of a standard collective labour agreement, it is usually somewhat more complicated. In some cases, an employment contract may take precedence over a collective labour agreement and it could be argued that your agreement takes precedence because the provisions are more favourable to you. You can contact me without obligation via my profile if you have any questions or require legal assistance.