Unfair pay system got you down?

The Philadephia Inquirer explains a certain egalitarian club started by non-profit CEO Robert Fishman:

Employees can authorize a 1 percent deduction from their take-home pay. The 1 percent goes into a pot that is divided evenly among club members.

For example, suppose there are three people in the club. One nets $3,000 in pay, another $1,000 and a third $500. Their 1 percent deductions are $30, $10 and $5, for a total pool of $45. Dividing $45 by three, each person receives $15 - a net gain of $10 for the lowest-paid person, but a $15 loss for the highest-paid employee.

The voluntary club operates six months a year and is recruiting for the next round. In the last round, $8,753.53 was redistributed.

Fishman says this will not work in the private sector.We're waiting to see if tenured professors at Harvard will try this with the non-tenured.