Thread by @RickSmithShow

Saru Jayaraman: At least in the restaurant industry, people are saying "Enough is enough!" This is 150 yrs in the making. Restaurant wages were set in 1865 when owners wanted to pay almost no wages, making employees live on tips.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct

Saru Jayaraman: Why bother? Before the pandemic, workers just made it by with their tips & making min. wage of $2.83/hr. During pandemics, state govts told workers they made TOO LITTLE to get unemployment benefits.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct #OneFairWage

Rick: We didn't pay them, but we called them "essential workers."
Saru Jayaraman: CDC said restaurants were the most dangerous places to work, even above hospitals. Health risks way up, wages/tips way down. Customer hostility through the roof.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage

Saru Jayaraman: Keep in mind, the people going out to eat last summer weren't those being careful of COVID, they were the ones telling servers to remove masks so they could see how cute the servers were before tipping.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct #OneFairWage

Saru Jayaraman: I think a lot of people didn't even get benefits or the stimulus check b/c they couldn't access the federal dollars once they were turned down for unemployment benefits.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct #OneFairWage

Saru Jayaraman: Workers tell me that by the time they pay for childcare & transportation, they barely bring home anything. Workers are done & are moving on to other jobs, saying anything or nothing is better than working in restaurants.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #OneFairWage

Saru Jayaraman: When 2/3 of restaurant workers were denied unemployment benefits because they make too little, taking away their unemployment benefits won't matter--they never got it to begin with.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct #OneFairWage

Saru Jayaraman: Restaurant workers are demanding a livable wage with tips on top. The median age in the restaurant industry is 36--they are not teenagers. They are adults w/ children. They are not just flipping burgers.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct #OneFairWage

Saru: Americans eat out more than any other country on earth. We love the service we get & we want that experience of being served, someone anticipating our needs. We are itching to go back to that but we need to make sure the workers are paid well.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage

Saru Jayaraman: Restaurant workers should be paid at least $15/hr PLUS tips. The CFO of Denny's even admitted that $15/hr in CA outperformed any other state in US, & they've grown faster in CA than in any other state.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct #OneFairWage

Saru Jayaraman: In states that have raised the minimum wage, the restaurant industry has grown. CA, WA, & OR have raised their min. wages & Denny's & IHOP have admitted to shareholders that profits have increased.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct #OneFairWage

Saru Jayaraman: So many workers have said they've never experienced this level of hostility from customers. Restaurants are opening while severely understaffed, which will only increase the hostility. We can raise the wage or shrink the industry.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage

Saru Jayaraman: We need everyone--workers, customers, employers--to tell Congress to pass the Raise the Wage Act.
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct #OneFairWage

Check out Saru Jayaraman's piece on restaurant workers not returning to work without a living wage:
truthout.org/articles/resta…
@SaruJayaraman @onefairwage #RaiseTheWageAct #OneFairWage