It's both really and that's why the scale is capped. Union shops still have compensation levels. If your pay is defined as 85% of a scale L8 and the collective

It's both really and that's why the scale is capped. Union shops still have compensation levels. If your pay is defined as 85% of a scale L8 and the collective agreement says it gets increased by 2 and half percentage points each year, you will eventually reach 100% and will just sit there and still make 10k less than L9. The scale itself is adjusted yearly.