Inequalities are baked into our system in ways many of us don’t realize. When I helped Bill Clinton raise the minimum wage in 1996, the National Restaurant Association made sure restaurant workers who served customers wouldn’t be included, arguing that tips brought them up to the minimum wage so they didnt need it. Tipped workers still haven’t got a raise. The so-called “tipped” minimum wage has been frozen at $2.13 an hour since 1991. The restaurant industry’s profits rose to a record $660 billion last year, but tipped restaurant workers are even worse off than they were years ago, adjusted for inflation. Not surprisingly, theyre nearly 3 times more likely to fall into poverty and twice as likely to be on food stamps as other working people – and 70 percent of them are women. This bizarre loophole to the minimum wage is grossly unfair. To get rid of it, the Restaurant Opportunities Center (which thousands of restaurant workers have joined) is organizing a National Day of Action this Thursday, February 13. Please support tipped workers. And tell your representatives in Congress to raise the minimum wage for ALL workers and get rid of the tipped exception.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 15:51:23 +0000