Annual Merit Increase
bananaman2,
You are referring to what is known as Annual Merit Increase or 'AMI'. Here's how it works:
The basic salary for an A320 Captain is around Php 124,000 before taxes. Every year, each pilot is 'evaluated' by the Chief Pilot in the form of an 'Annual Assessment'. He is then given his AMI for the year which is anywhere from 4-7% based on the evaluation. Thus, If a new captain who had served say, 3 years as FO prior to being upgraded and having achieved the full merit of 7% AMI would technically have an accumulated AMI of 7% x 3 years or 21%. So his basic pay upon making the left seat would thus be Php 124,000 + 21%= Php 150,000. This is before taxes. The full 7% is the exception rather than the rule as this is all dependent on the Chief Pilots mood when he drafts the annual assessment. 4% would be the more realistic figure and 0% is not totally out of the question for the same reasons stated.
This system has since been super ceded about 2 years ago for all new hires by one which equates the basic pay to experience level/ flying time. Management created 'brackets' of experience in terms of time. Example, 1500 -3000 hours would be a certain basic pay, 3001-4000 a level up, etc.
This was the formula used for the Long Haul Division/ A330 when bids for pilot positions were opened. This led to complaints from the more senior pilots specially those who were highly experienced but were spending a lot of time instructing in the sim and did not have their experience properly reflected on their logbooks in terms of flight time.
In the end, the decision to move from SA to wide body was driven by reasons other than monetary.