Can my employer make me sign a new contract with worse terms or lose my job?

Unilaterally imposing significantly worse contractual terms and treating a refusal to sign as an automatic resignation is legally questionable under Maltese employment law, since a genuine variation to fundamental terms of employment, such as pay and core benefits, generally requires your actual agreement, and an employer effectively forcing acceptance under threat of losing your job can, depending on the circumstances, amount to a constructive dismissal if you were to resign in response, or an unlawful unilateral variation if you continue working under protest. Employees are protected under the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, Chapter 452 of the Laws of Malta, against having essential terms changed without proper consultation and genuine consent, and if the company's difficulties are genuinely serious enough to require reduced terms across the workforce, there are more structured, lawful routes for the employer to pursue this, such as proper collective consultation, which this described approach does not appear to follow. Before signing anything, or before treating your position as terminated, it would be worth seeking advice, and you may also want to raise the situation formally with the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations.