That is true. It is not just the salaries.
Cathay will not make you rich anymore (if it ever did), but even in Hong Kong, "comfortable" seems to be achievable with this scale. You will not be an SO forever and you will continue to advance and make more money. Ten years until Captain is not a long time, the same exists over here.
On that note some more troubling facts would be making less, way less, than the FOs around you and then the Captains around you once you got there. Also, if enough guys hold out and the package does increase, which seems unlikely considering the trends of the industry, would an icad be subject to the new terms or boned for life?