rnROC calls on Congress to respect working women & increase federal tipped minimum wage, which has been frozen at $2.13 for over 20 years! TAKE ACTION – Petition below.rn
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rnAt a Congressional Briefing on 2.13 with the support of 12 leading national women’s groups, the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United released a report called “Tipped Over the Edge” highlighting gender discrimination in the restaurant industry and calling for a long overdue increase to the federal tipped minimum wage of $2.13 with the W.A.G.E.S. Act HR 631.rn
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rnThe report shows that the restaurant industry in the only industry where gender pay inequity is a matter of law: servers – of whom 71 percent are female – earn a subminimum federal wage of $2.13 and are almost three times more likely to be paid below the poverty line than the general workforce and nearly twice as likely to need food stamps as the general population.rn
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rnThe report also discusses how women who work in the restaurant industry face systematic discrimination, poverty wages, a lack of sick days, and five times more harassment than the general female workforce. Due to gender discrimination, the industry takes an extra $320,000 from each female server over the course of her career!rnrn
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rnThe briefing and report were sponsored by Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MS) and other major research and advocacy organizations, including Family Values @ Work, HERVotes Coalition, The Institute For Women’s Policy Research, Momsrising, National Coalition On Black Civic Participation’s Black Women’s Roundtable, National Council For Research On Women, National Organization For Women, National Partnership For Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center, Wider Opportunities For Women, Women Of Color Policy Network (NYU Wagner), and 9to5 National Association for Working Women.rn
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rn“Everything else has gone up in the past 20 years – meal prices, CEO pay, and the cost of basic necessities like housing and health care,” said ROC-United Director SaruJayaraman. “Congress needs to say no to restaurant lobbyists so the women who serve America its food can afford to eat.”rn
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rnMayaba Liebenthal, a server in New Orleans and ROC-New Orleans member, testified at the Congressional briefing, saying it is difficult surviving on $2.13 an hour. "I have had my phone and electricity cut off, having to make the decision of what I could without for a few days until I could afford it,” she said, ”Millions of people across America like myself deserve more."rn
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rnTAKE ACTION – Please send a letter to your Congressmember, asking them support the W.A.G.E.S. Act, a law that would increase the tipped minimum wage of $2.13 up to $5 – Stop the attack on working women by the restaurant lobby! 20 years of $2.13 is ENOUGH! rn
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rnClick Here to check out the full reportrn
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