Escalator Clause

It's an insurance policy additional "rider," targeting "non-elevator vertical conveyances."

Or not.

An escalator clause exists as part of some contracts, allowing for a price to go up under certain conditions. Like, the price is escalating. (Quick aside: are down escalators technically called deescalators? Should they be?)

These escalator clauses come up in real estate contracts, like leases. "If the cost of electricity goes above $10 per kilowatt, $50 shall be added to the rent for the subsequent 12 months."

Or, alternatively, your union is signing a 10-year contract with a small airplane manufacturer. You've negotiated a pretty good wage based on the company's current size, but who knows what the finances will look like 10 years down the line?

You don't want to look like a sucker to the rank and file if the company scores a fat military contract and all that extra money goes for black-rhino toilet seat covers in the executive bathroom. To cover yourself, you include an escalator clause that indexes wages to profits. So as the company makes more money, some of that extra profit goes to your workers to (hopefully) keep them from striking.