Main Street

Working America Members React to Restaurant Wages Report

As Susan wrote, a report from the Restaurant Opportunities Center United called “Tipped Over the Edge” is shining a light on the unfair treatment faced by servers, cooks, and other restaurant workers. The banner headline is this: the federal subminimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour – and it has been that way since 1991.

This comes on the heels of news out of Florida, where a GOP-run Senate committee has approved SB 2106, a bill that would return the state subminimum wage for tipped workers to 1985 levels.

It should be common sense, but let’s spell it out for the so-called legislators who think this is good policy: paying working people less hurts the economy. Less money in the pockets of those most likely to spend instantly means less money going to grocery stores, gas stations, utility companies and other small businesses. Less money for businesses means fewer hires. That kills jobs. Get it?

Our members sure do. When we posted this news on Facebook, Working America members reacted strongly. Many of them work or have worked in the restaurant industry:

I was a restaurant chef for over 20 years. Everyone in the restaurant business is generally under paid and over worked. All restaurants are sweatshops, pure and simple… Jerry – Utica, New York

$2 an hour now? I made that as a waitress in the 80′s. Rita – Wabasha, Minnesota

I put up with a lot of hours on my feet….The tips were good on some days and near zero on other days. When the economy is bad, so are the tips. –Sherry

Years ago I worked as a waitress at the local campus PIzza Hut…got paid barely $1/ hr (this was the early ’70′s!) – the frat boys were the worst tippers and kept me running constantly. Ever since, I’ve always tipped, no matter what. –Mary

Many of my friends have worked in restaurants and my mother worked for 60 cents an hour back in the 1950′s as an assistant cook and waitress. Wages have not come very far in all these years, have they? –Susan – Fall River, Wisconsin

I think it’s disgraceful that employers are allowed to pay 2.13 per hour!! A tip should be an added bonus for a job well done – not money to make up what the employer doesn’t want to pay!! That’s always been ridiculous to me!! I always tip above and beyond because I appreciate good service! Having to pool and share tips is ridiculous too yet happens at many places! -Terri

However, when business owners take it upon themselves to pay their servers a fair wage, the results are good for staff – and good for the economy as a whole. Amber from Tallahassee, Florida writes:

I gave up on waitressing because I was sick of management using servers at slave wages to do hours and hours of un-tipped labor every week. Got a job next to a small diner with very low prices and delicious food, they pay their servers minimum wage plus tips and they do all the same work I did for $2.13/hr at other restaurants. The owner is frequently around also, she lives comfortably but not high on the hog.

Not all bosses are like Amber’s. Without federal legislation mandating the first increase in the tipped subminimum wage in 20 years, servers in states like Florida will continue to scrape by and be subject to their ALEC-influenced, anti-worker state legislators and cash-strapped managers.

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) has introduced the Workers for Adequate Gains for Employment in Services, or WAGES Act, which would increase the hourly subminimum wage to $3.75 after 90 days and $5.00 after a year. We don’t think that’s asking for too much, and would help some of our lowest-paid workers have a better life.

Unfortunately, the committee that will consider the bill is dominated by Republicans, none of whom have co-sponsored or stated their support for the WAGES Act.

Photo by artgoeshere on Flickr, via Creative Commons

Tags: Florida, Jobs, wages