Political Statement

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In the year 2015, the chief of a card company in Seattle introduced a $70,000 in the minimum wage for All of its 120 employees - in person and took a pay cut of $1m. Five years later, he is still on the minimum salary, and says, The Gamble has paid off.

Dan price was Hiking with his girlfriend Valerie in the Cascade mountains that loom majestically over Seattle, as he had an unpleasant revelation.

As she walked, she told him that it was her life a mess, your landlord had you pay for the monthly rent of $200, and you fought your bills.

It made her angry. Valerie, which he had once dated, had served, for 11 years in the military, doing two tours in Iraq, and now work 50 hours a week in two jobs to make ends meet to come.

"she's someone for whom duty, honor and Hard work defines exactly who she is as a person," he says.

it had been around $40,000 per year earns, in Seattle, that was enough to make it a decent house to afford. He was angry that The World is an unequal place. And suddenly, it fell to him, he was part of the problem.

The 31 prize was a millionaire. His company, Gravity Payments , which he had in his youth, More Than 2,000 customers and an estimated value of millions of dollars. Although he will earn $1. 1m year, Valerie brought home to change him that many of his employees have to fight - and he decided to the.

Grew up in a deeply Christian, rural Idaho, Dan price is optimistic and positive, generous in his praise of others, and perfectly polite, But he has become a Crusader against inequality in the United States .

"the people are starving, or be dismissed or exploited, so that someone can have, a penthouse at The Top of a tower in New York with the gold chairs.

"We greed to glorify All the time, as a society, in our culture. And, you know, the Forbes list is the worst Example - " Bill Gates , Jeff Bezos , has passed as the richest man. 'Who cares! ?"

Before you earned in 1995, the poorest half of the population of the United States a larger share of the national wealth than the richest 1%, he says. But this year the tables have turned - The Top 1% earns More Than the bottom 50%. And The Gap will continue to increase.

In 1965, CEOs in the U.S. earned 20 times More Than the average worker, But in 2015, increased 300 times (in the UK, the bosses of FTSE 100 companies now earn the salary of their employees).

Breathe in the fresh mountain air as he walked with Valerie, the price had an idea. He had read a study that the Nobel prize-winning economists Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton , look how much money an American needs to be happy. He immediately promised Valerie he would have a substantial minimum wage increase on the force of gravity.

After crunching the numbers, he arrived at the figure of $70,000. He realized that he didn't just slash his salary, But also mortgage his two homes and give his stocks and savings. He called his employees and gave them the news.

He had expected the scenes of celebration, But first of All , The Announcement floated down to The Room in something of an anti-climax, of the price. He had to repeat himself before the enormity of what had happened, landed.

Five years later, Dan is laughing at the fact that he missed an important point in the Princeton professors " research. The amount that you need to appreciated the people to be happy, was $75,000.

Still, a third of the employees at the companies would have their salaries doubled immediately.

Since then, the has a Hard to change force.

The number of employees has doubled and the value of the payments that The Company processes has of $3. 8bn a year to $10. 2 billion

But there are also other metrics, the price is more proud of.

"in Front of the $70,000 minimum wage, we were with between zero and two babies per year, among the Teams," he says.

"And since The Announcement and it was only about four-and-a-half years, we had More Than 40 babies. "

Dan Price and his mother

More Than 10% of the companies were able to buy their own apartment, in one of the US's most expensive cities for renters. In front of the figure is less than 1%.

"There was a bit of a concern among the proponents, would contact the people you have no gains, you would have. And we have seen actually The Opposite ," price says.

The amount of money that the employee has voluntarily doubled in their own pension Fund More Than 70% of the employees say that they have debts paid off.

But the price has a lot of flak. Together with hundreds of letters of support and magazine covers labeling him "America's best Chef", a lot of the force of gravity written the own customers the hand-written letters objecting to what they saw as a Political Statement .

at the time, Seattle struggled with an increase in the minimum wage to 15 dollars, Making It the highest in the US at the time. Small Business owners fought it, claimed they would go out of business.

the right wing of The radio expert, Rush Limbaugh , the price heard Every Day , had called in his childhood, him a Communist.

"I hope that this company said is a case study in MBA programs, such as socialism does not work, because it is doomed to failure," he said.

Two senior gravity Staff also resigned in protest. They were not happy that the salaries had jumped from Junior Staff , through the night, and argues that it will make you lazy, and The Company is no longer competitive.

This is not happening.

Rosita Barlow

Rosita Barlow, director of sales at gravity, says that since the salaries were raised, junior colleagues have to pull more weight.

"If the money is not at The Top of your mind, if you do your job, it allows you to be more passionate about, what motivates them," she says.

managers have found that their work load is reduced. They are under less pressure and can do things the way they are All in The Holiday entitled.

Price told the story about an employee that works in Gravity's call Center.

"commuted over an hour and a half A Day ," he says. "He was worried that during his commute, he'll blow a tire and not have enough money to fix the tire. He was stressed about it Every Day . "

When his salary was raised to $70,000, This Man was moving closer to The Office , now he spends more money for his health, he exercises Every Day and eat healthier.

"We had another man on a similar team and he has lost literally More Than 50 lbs (22 kg)," he says. Others report that they spend more time with their families or help pay off their parents debts.

"We have seen, Every Day , to give the impact that someone's freedom," price says.

He thinks it is, why the gravity is more money than ever before.

the raising of the salaries has not changed, the motivation - he says employees were motivated to work Hard - But it will increase what he calls their efficiency.

"you don't think I have work to go to, because I earn money," Rosita Barlow agrees. "Now I can focus on 'Good Work ?'"

Barlow has been with gravity since the early days and don't know that the price was always so generous.

He recognizes that there was a time in The Wake of the financial crisis of 2008, when he was obsessed with saving money.

the weakness of The US economic power of the customer base is decimated and the income fell by 20%. Business logic would dictate, go over to 12, the The Company focused 35 employees, But the price-the reduction of the cost.

After five exciting months, The Company began turning a profit again, But the price was deeply frightened, and kept salaries low.

At This Time , Rosita Barlow was experiencing their own financial problems, and secretly working at McDonalds outside of working hours. If McDonald's offered her a promotion, the Links of a training manual on your Desk with the force of gravity, and someone noticed it accidentally.

their chiefs called in a meeting.

"they sat me and my immediate reaction was to cry," Barlow. She thought she was fired.

Instead, they told her that she should find out, to stay how much money you will need in the case of The Company , and they raised your salary to $40,000.

"I was very impressed and proud of you and angry at myself," price says.

It took a few years to understand the extent of the problem among its employees.

"Most of them were too intimidated to come to me and tell me how a lack of numbers was to hurt you," he says.

Before 2015, he had already begun, the employee 20% of the annual wage increases. But it was his conversation with Valerie, who convinced him to Go Further .

But he had hoped for nationwide, structural change.

economics, seattle, economic inequality

Source of news: bbc.com