More than 20 years ago, the federal minimum wage for workers in tipped occupations was raised to $2.13 an hour. In the two decades since, it has not budged. The cost of living has risen, the economy has reached unprecedented highs and lows, and the restaurant industry has earned billions in profits. But servers employed by those restaurants continue to earn the same abysmally low wages.
A new report from Restaurant Opportunities Center-United (ROC-United) details the “subminimum” wages that servers earn and presents detailed information on additional “unjust conditions” in the industry. “Tipped Over the Edge – Gender Inequity in the Restaurant Industry” was recently unveiled by ROC’s local chapter. ROC-DC is a Grantee Partner of Washington Area Women’s Foundation.
Sixty-six percent of tipped restaurant workers are women, according to the report, and there are a number of additional factors that make this type of work particularly challenging for them. Gender pay inequity, lack of health care and paid sick leave, sexual harassment, and not being able to control a schedule are practices that are accepted throughout the industry that ROC hopes to change.
At the unveiling of the report, ROC staff shared some pretty shocking facts:
- Restaurant servers use food stamps at double the rate of others.
- A woman’s median income in the industry is $17,000/year.
- Black women earn 60% of their male counterparts’ income and earn $400,000 less over their lifetimes because of the gender pay gap.
- More than one in ten restaurant workers are single mothers with children under the age of 18 living with them.
- 70 percent of women restaurant workers reported that they went to work when they were sick.
- Last year, 37 percent of all sexual harassment charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission came from the restaurant industry.
The facts paint a worrisome picture. The women who are serving our food may not be able to afford food themselves. They work long hours and show up even when they’re sick out of fear of losing their jobs. They face gender and racial discrimination and work in an industry where one worker calls sexual harassment “…inevitable. If it’s not verbal assault, someone wants to rub up against you.”
Congress member Donna Edwards (D-MD) participated in the release of ROC’s survey and has introduced legislation in Congress to raise the federal minimum wage for tipped workers.
“We should be embarrassed that we have people working for $2.13 an hour,” she said at the release of the report. “We want the restaurant industry to make all they can, but they can’t do it on the backs of workers.”
According to ROC, there are many successful restaurants that offer employees higher wages, paid sick leave, and other benefits. Joining ROC-DC at the local release of the report was Barbara Sibley, the owner of New York City’s La Palapa Cocina Mexicana. La Palapa is recognized by ROC as a “High-Road Restaurant” for promoting sustainable best practices that positively impact the wages and benefits of employees. There are a number of DC-area restaurants that are also High-Road members.
But restaurant owners aren’t the only ones who can have an impact on the industry. In fact, all diners can use the power of their voices and wallets to ensure that their favorite eateries are treating their employees well. ROC suggests contacting your representative in Congress about supporting the wages act. The organization also recently released a Diners’ Guide that will give you an idea of the pay and benefits that employees of specific restaurants receive. And you can click here to familiarize yourself with industry standards and conditions outlined in ROC’s report.
When you go out to eat, are you aware of the working conditions in the restaurant? Would more knowledge change where you eat or how you tip? Share your answers in the comments below!
Photo credit: Star5112 via Creative Commons
