US Department of Labor Lifts Up Women in the Restaurant Industry

The Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis at an event at the Department of Labor yesterday said that "the gender pay gap for female restaurant workers is 86 cents on the dollar compared to male restaurant workers. And because the majority of restaurant workers are women, the pay gap issue that affects all of us, affects them even more adversely." Read her full statement here.

With women working the majority of tipped jobs a simple and economy-boosting solution is to raise the tipped minimum wage in order to close this historic inequity between men and women. The WAGES Act, introduced by Donna Edwards (D-MD) would do just that, bringing the tipped minimum wage up to 70% of the regular minimum wage. Currently the tipped minimum wage stands frozen at $2.13/hour since 1991. Click here to learn more and to support the WAGES Act.

Occupying Restaurant Workers: Among the Lowest-Paid of the 99%

Juan Carlos Romero is a 20-year-old restaurant worker, ROC-NY member, and the newest staffperson of ROC-United. He’s also become an extremely active in the Occupy Wall Street movement, leading drum circles and helping to organize marches and rallies. “I make $200 a week from my restaurant job – it would never be enough to survive,” he says. “I’m here because I believe in an America that provides opportunities for everyone, not just the rich.”

Juan Carlos is one of 10 million restaurant workers nationwide who struggle under poverty wages and working conditions. With a federal minimum wage for tipped workers of $2.13, the median wage for restaurant workers nationwide is $8.86, just below the federal poverty line for a family of three. That means that the majority of the people who cook, prepare, and serve your food nationwide are poor, and that seven of the ten lowest-paid occupations in America in 2010 were food service jobs.

Representing one of the largest and fastest growing workforces within the 99%, we at ROC stand in complete solidarity with #OccupyWallSt and the growing movement for economic justice not only now, but for as long as it takes to make sure that workers like Juan Carlos can support themselves and their families. As we continue to support the #occupy movement everywhere, join us in also fighting to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers! Click here to let your Congressperson know that $2.13 is not enough for anyone!

Wall St. doesn’t need a raise – main street does!

HERMAN CAIN, THE NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION, AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT

We’ve heard a lot in the last few days about the allegations of sexual harassment against Herman Cain, current Republic presidential candidate, during his tenure as President of the National Restaurant Association (NRA). A powerful lobbying group in Congress, the NRA is led by the world’s largest multinational restaurant corporations, and has spent millions over the last several years to keep the minimum wage for tipped workers at $2.13 and prevent any efforts to win paid sick days. While Cain was a rising star within the NRA, the lobbying group truck a deal with its friends in Congress to freeze the tipped minimum wage at $2.13 forever. Regardless of whether or not they are true, these allegations against Cain represent the epitome of the culture of the restaurant industry – one in which the overwhelming power of the employer has resulted in severe gender discrimination and sexual harassment for women.

The majority of restaurant workers nationwide are actually women, many of whom deal with constant sexual harassment in the industry. One server told us, “A lot of the owners will fire you if you say anything back to them. Or if you don’t flirt back at their flirting to you. They’ll find an easy way to fire you.”[i] Even though the majority of all restaurant workers earn poverty-level wages, waitresses earn eight cents to every dollar that waiters earn, a difference of almost $70 per week[ii]. Our data shows that wages are even worse for women of color, who earn $4 than everyone else in the industry[iii].

Most importantly, our most recent research reveals that the lower minimum wage for tipped workers, currently $2.13 due to NRA influence in Congress, significantly exacerbates the gender wage equity gap in the restaurant industry. It’s the epitome of the undue influence of discriminatory multinational corporations on Congress! Click here to let your legislator know that $2.13 an hour IS NOT ENOUGH FOR ANYONE!

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[i] Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, and Southeast Michigan Restaurant Industry Coalition, “Behind the Kitchen Door,” 51.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, “Behind the Kitchen Door: A Multisite Study of the Restaurant Industry.”

Herman Cain, Restaurant Owner, Republican, poverty-wage job creator

Job-creation is not a one size fits all solution to unemployment. Currently the unemployment rate is hovering at 10% (officially) in the U.S. If all of the jobs created in the next few years are minimum wage jobs, like the ones Herman Cain created at Godfather Pizza, we will be spiraled into a deeper recession by stunning consumer buying power. Cain's vision of an America with no regulations and no minimum wage is a recipe for economic disaster and a pathway to poverty for tens of millions of Americans. Read Mike Elk's article about the many wrong-headed and sloppy ideas being proposed by Cain.

Contagion: Not just a movie

Contagion is not just a movie. Watch this video and hear from restaurant workers and others representing the over 44 million Americans forced to work sick because they do not have paid sick days. 90% of restaurant workers do not have paid sick days and about 2/3 report going to work sick. If we don't want a real-life contagion situation, we must pass paid sick days legislation, it is a basic labor standard.

9/11 is cause for mourning and celebration for ROC

Even though 73 workers from Windows on the World lost their lives on 9/11 their memories inspired a movement.  Today over 8,000 workers throughout the United States call themselves members of ROC United.   The organization that traces it's roots to the workers at Windows.  A series of events commemorating the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 and ROC marked this year's solemn date. Read here what 9/11 means to restaurant workers.