Facts: * I am a foreigner living for 2 years in Germany. * I worked for a company for 1 year and changed to my recent company * I really enjoy working here * I have 10+ years in sw development * I really thing (honestly) that I am an employee that anyone would like to have due to my enthusiasm and work quality * I speak German fluently Situation: People brought to my attention that students job posting were offering a similar hour based salary than mine (from the same value up to 4 euro less). But I dismissed that for a while. Now many people on my team decided to quit (for different reason) and on this context of leaving, farewell parties and so on I got the information that people with no prior experience were receiving just a little bit less than I do and some people with same age and a little bit more experience were getting twice my salary. I got very frustrated because I have lots of responsibilities and I do my job well and I was repeatedly told by boss. Now I scheduled a meeting to talk about it because it just extinguished my motivation and I have he feeling that they used my lack of knowledge of the job market to give me a low salary. I will ask for a big raise, so I am nearer to the ones my work is similar to. The thing is: many people of my team are leaving, in two months my team will be reduced to 2 people (me +1, and I am older in the company). I do not want to use this as a pressure tool. But I will look for alternatives if we do not get to some number that I am happy with. How do I tell them that, without sounding as a threat and being known as someone who used their delicate situation for my benefit? PS: my company is really well financially.