Yes, the teachers with seniority (and tenure) are the ones who control the contract megotiations, and will ALWAYS line their own pockets first.
Plus, it is to the union's advantage to keep entry-level salaries low, to use as a weapon in public relations campaigns. Many naive taxpayers look only at the first-year salary, not at how the money is distributed across the pay scale.
(Ex-teacher here. Been on two contract negotiation teams.)
And the media reports only the distortions -- and not the clarity of the process.
Like everybody else, I used to think the media was just naive and uninformed. It is much more insidious than that.