The Inverted Pyramid and Beyond: Perceptions of Distributive Justice Among (Highly) Qualified Workers in Contemporary...

In 2020/2021, wage scale reforms were implemented in Cuba to improve distributive justice. The previously long-prevailing wage system and resulting wage structure, often referred to as an inverted pyramid, is said to have especially affected (highly) qualified workers in Cuba. This research provides emergent and partly speculative data on perceptions of distributive justice that (highly) qualified workers in Havana held during the time of change. The results of the exploratory study reinforce and illustrate the common claim in the literature that wage differentiation based on equity principles receives broad support. At the same time, we show how principles of need and equality also have their place in the interviewees' reasonings. Finally, we outline two different patterns that interviewees invoke to explain why they perceive equity violations as unjust.