Tipping reinforces inequality. The restaurant industry wants to keep it that way.
“Tipped workers are paid a subminimum wage — right now it’s $2.13 federally versus a $7.25 untipped minimum wage — with the agreement that employers will make up the difference at the end of the month should an employee’s tips fail to hit or surpass the minimum wage. Enforcement of this agreement, commonly referred to as ‘tip credit,’ is nearly nonexistent, however, and food service employees are twice as likely as the average American to fall beneath the poverty line. ‘It requires a mostly female workforce to tolerate all kinds of inappropriate customer behavior in order to feed their families,’ said Saru Jayaraman, co-founder of the ROC. Two thirds of tipped workers restaurant workers in New York State are women.”