Tips are a weird issue here. You can see why employees in this industry want to keep them, but also why it’s problematic when talking about liveable wages.
I worked for tips for years. Bartending and serving from my first job at 16, all through my 20s. Let me give an example of when this became an issue.
I’m waiting tables at a restaurant. Make minimum wage in CA which is like $10 I think? Doesn’t matter most of my income is tips. I’m realisticly making closer to $30 - 40 with tips. We share some with bussers / dishwashers because they support us. Kitchen staff is making like 25 an hour. More than twice our wage but still less than us accounting for tips. Kitchen wants a raise, restaurant makes us share tips with kitchen too to make it “fair”. We’re upset.
New CA minimum wage passes. $15 minimum wage, includes tip protection stating you cannot oblige servers to share tips. Servers got a raise twice, our hourly wage went up from 10 to 15 and we stopped sharing tips with the kitchen. Huge boon. Kitchen staff now making less, just the $25 no shared tips. Kitchen staff decries bullshit, demands a raise, restaurant says no way I can give you a raise now that I have to pay all the servers, bussers, and bartenders more.
Then you realize the serving staff / kitchen staff, at least in CA, is almost perfectly split racially. Mexicans, Latinx, and Black folks in the kitchen, white folks serving and bartending. It’s already an issue of fairness, just adding the additional racial observation which makes it downright problematic.
Tips are a weird issue here. You can see why employees in this industry want to keep them, but also why it’s problematic when talking about liveable wages.
I worked for tips for years. Bartending and serving from my first job at 16, all through my 20s. Let me give an example of when this became an issue.
I’m waiting tables at a restaurant. Make minimum wage in CA which is like $10 I think? Doesn’t matter most of my income is tips. I’m realisticly making closer to $30 - 40 with tips. We share some with bussers / dishwashers because they support us. Kitchen staff is making like 25 an hour. More than twice our wage but still less than us accounting for tips. Kitchen wants a raise, restaurant makes us share tips with kitchen too to make it “fair”. We’re upset.
New CA minimum wage passes. $15 minimum wage, includes tip protection stating you cannot oblige servers to share tips. Servers got a raise twice, our hourly wage went up from 10 to 15 and we stopped sharing tips with the kitchen. Huge boon. Kitchen staff now making less, just the $25 no shared tips. Kitchen staff decries bullshit, demands a raise, restaurant says no way I can give you a raise now that I have to pay all the servers, bussers, and bartenders more.
Then you realize the serving staff / kitchen staff, at least in CA, is almost perfectly split racially. Mexicans, Latinx, and Black folks in the kitchen, white folks serving and bartending. It’s already an issue of fairness, just adding the additional racial observation which makes it downright problematic.