This is a long one, there will be a tldr!
A bit of background:
During an unpaid internship in Korea I begrudgingly took (we'll call the company I Interned at Q-Brute), I helped Q-Brute expand into Germany (I speak German and English) I set up a major business deal with a company in Germany we'll call Bodenlos. I had to set up the meetings and do all the emails as Bodenlos doesn't have any English speakers and I'm the only German speaker at Q-Brute.
My job offer:
My internship ended before the deal closed, as the two companies were still in talks. Because of this, Q-Brute offered me a part-time job 10hrs per week, online and flexible. My supervisor told me I'd be involving myself closely within the Germany expansion continuing to translate, interpret and research. I offered Q-Brute €16 per hour and they didn't try to lower my price at all, I was ecstatic.
The contract arguments:
The contract was the first sign that this would be a nightmare. The contract wasn't that of a part-time job but a freelancer contract. I wanted 1.5x pay for overtime…. I didn't get it. Instead there was a clause which said
“The working hours assigned will be 10hrs per week and this may vary depending on the nature of the work required”.
Overtime but 1x pay, I can live with, so I backed down. What really scared me was this clause
“The company may terminate this agreement at any time within 5-10 working days in a written notice to the employee”
I was worried at how little protection the contract gave me and how stacked in the company's favor it was but with the promise of 10hrs per week at €16 euros I blindly signed.
The job:
My first week I did a lot of tasks without clocking in to try and prove my worth quickly because I was scared to be terminated if I hadn't completed something. My supervisor was giving me 2-3hrs worth of tasks every day, everything was going fine.
The problem came when the CEO (who originally offered me the job) changed his mind. He was furious with my supervisor for giving me research tasks and said my job role should be just interpreting and translating. Quoting what he said to my supervisor, “as a student, he should be happy and appreciate the chance given to involve with a real business”. Now translating and interpreting for 16/hr is very low (market rate is 35-75/hr for interpreting). This would also limit my hours to around 2-3 per week instead of per day. That's just exploitative. I plan on quitting the day before the next meeting with the German company, I'm not working for that. Does anyone have any better suggestions for what I should do?
TLDR; I get offered an onliy 10+ hrs part-time job at €16/hr. My contract gives me very little protection (terminate at will). The CEO quickly asserts that I'm ungrateful for my opportunity and slashes my hours effectively to 2-3hrs per week and my job role gets limited to translation and interpreting (Market rate for interpreting is 35-75/hr). I'm going to quit the day before my next interpreting session with another big business unless anyone has better suggestions.
Well guys what should I do. I'm pissed.