Ziggy,
you are correct, I seem to have worded it wrongly (they are my words, but I too recall similar elsewhere). Any suggestion that a 2% increase is, after inflation, anything other than a pay decrease is of course correct.
Your revised assessment of the situation is bang on.
Frankly, I just hope everyone in ryanair realises that
Accept deal: you income reduces now and for the rest of your career.
It can't be put more starkly than that, but them's the facts!