“I had no idea that tipping was a legacy of slavery or that racism and sexism had operated to keep women, especially Black women like me, shut out of federal protections for wage labor.
I did not question tipping as a practice...” nytimes.com/2021/02/05/opi…
I did not question tipping as a practice...” nytimes.com/2021/02/05/opi…
“Men of all ages commented on my looks, asked me if I had a boyfriend, slipped me their phone numbers, and expected me to laugh along w/ sexist jokes.
I often played along, after learning from experience that the price of resistance would be the loss of tips that I had earned.”
I often played along, after learning from experience that the price of resistance would be the loss of tips that I had earned.”
“After the Civil War, white business owners, still eager to find ways to steal Black labor, created the idea that tips would replace wages.
Tipping had originated in Europe as “noblesse oblige,” a practice among aristocrats to show favor to servants.”
Tipping had originated in Europe as “noblesse oblige,” a practice among aristocrats to show favor to servants.”
“But when the idea came to the United States, restaurant corporations mutated the idea of tips from being bonuses provided by aristocrats to their inferiors to becoming the only source of income for Black workers they did not want to pay.”
“The Pullman Company tried to get away with it too, but the Black porters, under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph, formed the nation’s first Black union to be affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and fought and won higher wages with tips on top.”
“Restaurant workers, however — who were mostly women — were not so fortunate.
The unjust concept of tips as wages remained in place for them.”
The unjust concept of tips as wages remained in place for them.”
“And in 1938, when Franklin Roosevelt signed the nation’s first minimum wage into law, it excluded restaurant workers, a category that included a disproportionate number of Black people.”
“In 1966, when our nation’s minimum wage was overhauled, restaurant workers were even more formally cut out with the creation of a subminimum wage for tipped workers.”
“Today, 43 states and the federal government still persist with this legacy of slavery, allowing a tipped work force that is close to 70 percent female and disproportionately Black and brown women to be paid a subminimum wage.”
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