My bad, thanks for the correction. From talking to colleagues who used to be on such contracts I understood they ended at 60k, but then probably they got some sort of experience accredited.
Not that I necessarily doubt these numbers, but by personal experience these always feel awfully low (even jobs paying to TVöD on entry level should put you above the median). Especially when going for larger enterprises I can only recommend negotiating - a lot is possible and realistic beyond the 90th percentile with even moderate experience.
Literally every point you made applies also at my workplace. The optimist in me hopes we work at the same place, but I fear that your last statement might just be the truth :-)