One of the nastiest things the Trump administration has cooking: a new rule that, for tipped workers who get paid minimum wage, their employers can *steal their tips.* 1/
epi.org/publication/wo…
epi.org/publication/wo…
To be clear: the system built around tipping absolutely sucks. Current minimum wage for tipped workers? $2.13 an hour. Learn more about why the current system is the worst:
vox.com/2014/7/17/5888…
vox.com/2014/7/17/5888…
Terrific activists like @SaruJayaraman of @rocunited have been fighting for #1FairWage—a $15 minimum wage for all, not including tipped workers. They're making headway!
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
The success of this activism is making the "other NRA"—the National Restaurant Association—angry. So they're pulling strings in the Trump administration to punish employees who have the temerity to demand a living wage.
Right now, longstanding rules block employers from taking their employees' tips. The idea of tip-swiping naturally invokes outrage. Back in 05, @ConnieSchultz won a Pulitzer in part for hellraising columns that called out tip-ripping-off bosses. cleveland.com/schultz/index.… 
For this administration, anything that gives power to working people needs to be punished. So tip stealing is on the road to approval by the Trump administration. The @EconomicPolicy Institute estimates a total heist of $5.8 billion—$4.6bn of that from women.
Spread the word, but also do more. This proposed rule is open to public comment. Your comment is unlikely to change the immediate outcome, but if the admin doesn't address public input in its final rule, that creates space for lawsuits later. So: weigh in! federalregister.gov/documents/2017…
... and then follow @rocunited and @EconomicPolicy and chip in some dough for them both. They're doing great work on this and many other fights.
