A union business manager is preparing for an upcoming contract cycle covering a specific city trade title. The union has a sense that pay progression for that title has lagged behind comparable roles elsewhere in city government, but making that case at the table requires documented history, not an impression.
The business manager searches the title in CompensationAtlas, which shows career trajectories — base rate, step changes, and overtime — for every employee who has held it since 2016.
The data shows base rate increases for the title have slowed noticeably over the last two contract cycles, even as overtime hours for the same title have climbed — a combination that's easy to describe anecdotally but stronger when shown as a trend.
A number the other side already knows is public record is harder to argue with than a number they think is an estimate.
The business manager enters negotiations with a documented, sourced history of how the title's pay has actually moved — grounding the union's position in the same public payroll data the city itself publishes.
Union business managers and labor representatives preparing for contract negotiations, and benefits or bargaining committees reviewing pay parity across trade titles.