Pay for performance

Fedex employees have been paid under a "pay for performance" plan for over 15 years. This means that an individual's pay is based on years of service and the performance review they receive from management. This means that senior, good employees, are making more than newcomers. Sometimes a lot more. Isn't it a cornerstone of a union contract that equal work gets equal pay ? Wouldn't this mean that under the first collective agreement, a lot of senior people might face pay reductions to bring up the pay of junior employees? How else could a pay for performance plan be dismantled? I'm sure you have no contracts with this type of system.

I have seen that situation before with new groups. That can easily be handled in many different ways. I can tell you nobody will suffer a loss. Here are couple of ideas for dealing with that:

1. Red circle the new group and give them the same raise on a seperate appendix in the collective agreement with new hires coming under a seperate section of the contract.

2. Live with the existing system and modify the merit system so it is administered on an equal and fair basis.

These are just suggestions – it's the workers who decide how they would like their pay system to work.