A proposed state measure that would see hard-working servers and bartenders get their tips slashed in the name of “fair wages for all” has lawmakers clashing with some of the workers they say the legislation is trying to protect.
The ongoing brouhaha hit a battle zone yesterday after U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn, LES,Queens) alongside Assembly members Jo Anne Simon (D-Downtown Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill), Tremaine Wright (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights) and Felix Ortiz (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook) and State Senator Julia Salazar (D-Bushwick, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Cypress Hills, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville) served coffee for an hour at Marlow & Sons restaurant, shadowing food service workers to experience what it’s like to work in the service industry and shed light on the federal Raise the Wage Act.
As part of the initiative, led by the national organization Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United) supporters are pushing for New York State passage of The Raise the Wage Act — requiring employers to pay all workers, including tipped workers, a full minimum wage of $15 an hour plus tips.
The rub is two-parted according to critics and many servers in A) they believe the measure will put an increase on menu prices, which will drive down tips, and B) the total tips would then be divided evenly between all front and back service industry workers, including tips from servers slinging drinks on a hectic Saturday night, for example, with servers that prefer working on slow Tuesdays.
Currently, the state’s minimum wage rate is $11.10 an hour and New York City’s minimum wage is $15 an hour. Though due to labor laws tipped employees are allowed to be paid less an hour due to the tip credits which bump up their earnings. However, if servers do not make the difference up and then some in tips, the service industry must pay these workers the $15 per hour.
“The biggest challenge we have as a nation is to address the issue of income inequality and we can do that by passing the Raise The Wage Act introduced in Jan 2019. By the way, if we increase the minimum wage it levels the playing field, not only for workers in America but also for the good restaurants that want to do the right thing on behalf of their workers,” said Velazquez.
“We want people to be able to earn a living wage, we want people to be able to spend money in their community. We also want to make sure that this is a system that is actually workable and implementable. Right now we have something that detracts from everyone getting what they need in this environment [New York City],” said Simon.
Salazar said the measure is not just addressing a workers rights issue, but also a racial rights issue and a feminist issue.
“We know that so many workers in this industry are women. This is not only going to ensure they have what they need to survive in our city but also its a way for us to confront harassment and wage theft,” said Salazar.
But the idea has received pushback from a number of servers and businesses in the industry, including an offshoot of the Marlow & Sons, 81 Broadway in Williamsburg, where the press conference was held. The restaurant is part of The Marlow Collective, which includes seven eateries around the city, owned by Brooklyn restaurateur Andrew Tarlow.
In 2015, Tarlow attempted to go gratuity free across all of his well-known Brooklyn venues. The model was expected to bridge the gap between waiters, who make more because they can collect tips, and cooks, who often earn less because they cannot.
During this time, employees at many of the eateries criticized the model complaining they were paid less and took a slash to the yearly earnings. In some cases, some of the most senior employees jumped ship due to the smaller paycheck. In late 2018, Tarlow was forced to revert back to tipping citing the rising costs of dishes.
This is the same critique being echoed by critics of the legislation, citing the increase in wages is only going to drive up costs for small businesses and negatively impact tipped workers.
“Instead of engaging in theatrics with celebrities at a hip restaurant in Brooklyn where the minimum wage is already $15, perhaps our elected representatives should be speaking with actual small business owners and servers about the consequences eliminating the tip credit will have on their restaurants and their jobs,” said Andrew Rigie, Executive Director of NYC Hospitality Alliance.
Rigie also pointed to a recent story where 500 restaurant workers signed on to a letter criticizing some Hollywood A-listers who sent their own letter to Cuomo, saying they like the current way the service industry payscale operates.
“It also wouldn’t hurt the celebrities to remember that many of their fellow actors who follow in their footsteps still rely on restaurant jobs to make a living and perhaps they should think twice before pushing policies that can hurt them,” said Rigie.
