I would like to tell you a story about how I worked on behalf of my coworkers.
I am a medical professional that requires certification for a decent pay boost. Its not required, but a $5 difference is a lot. I had planned months in advance to line up everything.
I originally “slipped” to my supervisor that I was considering traveling to get more money. She gave me the classic ramble about being competitive etc., but I had a plan. I knew she would feed that information to my manager and in term cause some worry. I am young and talented in their eyes and they can’t afford to lose more people. Well, I discussed wages with my coworkers and found out several were not being fairly compensated in my eyes and newer hires were making almost as much as them if not more. So a month later I am certified and a few weeks later than that I am due for a raise for the certification (verification was needed etc.) At that point everything lined up.
A couple weeks prior to the raise I applied for a travel position and emailed my manager to ask to use her as a reference. She agreed, and a few days after she said she completed the reference survey. I am given my raise and express my disappointment. Fast forward to two days later and I am offered a .75 cent raise and at least 5 coworkers got raises of $1+ to compensate for my raise to keep a wage equilibrium. The timing of my expression to move on, the fear of losing critical staffing, and the reference timing could not have worked out better. I didn’t care about a .75 cent raise, I just wanted them to pay my coworkers more for their loyalty.
Long story short, discuss wages, prove yourself needed, and be bold