Meeb - you do me an injustice! I said " if contrary to the beancounters' plans" - of course they allow for a higher % than the opening management bid. That's standard practice and both sides do it as a matter of course in all parts of industry.
Viscount Sussex- you have an old chestnut too- I remember your argument from (literally) decades back. You talk as if the union is actually paying the rise it thinks it negotiated! The company is paying - why refuse the company's money? If it was coming from the union coffers- then you would have a valid point. The union is only 'negotiating' the rise the company was going to pay anyway and has already budgeted for!
Last year, our lads union asked for 7% against our offer of 3.5%. We eventually settled at 5%, which had been in the budget since last November! The union still thinks it screwed us for 1.5%! If any of my non-union boys turned down the 1.5% extra I'd think they were bonkers! (and pay them anyway-they deserve it)