Serving up Justice
Kristin Jaffe is a participant in the Machon Kaplan Summer Social Action Internship Program, interning at Jews United for Justice.
Before I began my work with Jews United for Justice, I was clueless about the injustices that were occurring in the restaurant industry. I knew that there was a lower minimum wage for tipped workers, but I always assumed that they more than made up for it in tips. What I learned once I started working for JUFJ, however, was that despite tips, restaurant workers frequently don't make even the minimum wage, and actually must struggle for basic worker's rights.
Though many people, including myself, enjoy the fantastic array of restaurant options in the DC area, these workers' burdens remain largely invisible to the average diner. For example, few know that the federal minimum wage for "tipped employees" like waiters is a mere $2.13 - as opposed to the $7.25 for all other employees. Although in D.C. the minimum wage for these employees is slightly higher ($2.77), it still is not an acceptable living wage, especially since many employers withhold tips, or illegally credit them against wages.
In addition to poor wages, few restaurant workers receive sick leave that is necessary in the restaurant industry. In 2008, D.C. took a step in the right direction by passing a bill requiring sick leave for employees, but council members were persuaded to add an amendment that exempts tipped wait-staff and bartenders. Not only does the lack of sick days hurt ill employees, it also affects the customers he is serving and his co-workers. Although 75 percent of Americans agree that paid sick days are a basic worker's right, they are still being denied to many workers across the country.
The issue of restaurant worker injustice is a huge concern today, one that is paired with a lack of consequence for improper or illegal actions. We are all a part of the problem. So many of us are frequent restaurant-goers but too few of the people I know are aware of the injustices perpetrated against the people who serve us there. Each of us must seek to learn which restaurants have unethical business practices, and work to change the laws that allow them to continue to run unscrupulously. For more information, check out JUFJ's website at www.jufj.org.