I think that if the owner wants to give up a portion of his salary to raise the salary of lower paid workers is compenable and should make those workers very happy.

But, what about all the other workers who though they might make more than 70K resent that their pay is now similar to someone who has put in the extra hours in a more stressful and demanding job.

Years ago before starting my business I worked with a company that paired me with this one tech. Though he was 10 years older than me and had worked for the company for years he had no motivation. I was the lead tech and had to do all the talking to customers, do all the paperwork, drive the truck to every job while he slept between jobs. He did only what I told him to do.

Then one day when I found out that he was getting paid only $5 a week less I was I went ballistic.

Most people that are very successful work long hours and deal with stress. For that they expect to be rewarded. If not then I think that the workers who work harder and work between 50-60 hours a week are going to resent the other workers who just collect the check and don't care to work over 40 hours a week.