RAISE THE TIPPED MINIMUM WAGE! $2.13 is NOT enough!

The federal tipped minimum wage continues to be atrociously low at $2.13/hour.  For twenty years now, tipped workers in the restaurant industry and elsewhere have toiled for a miserable wage, in part due to the fact that restaurant workers have not had a voice. As a result, waiters and waitresses have three times the poverty rate of the rest of the United States workforce, and more than half of all restaurant workers live below the federal poverty line for a family of three.

Now you can make a difference!  In Spring 2011, Rep. Donna Edwards (MD) introduced the WAGES Act, the first bill ever introduced into Congress focused on tipped workers. This bill would make significantly close the wage gap that currently exists between tipped employees and all other workers. The WAGES Act would do this in 3 steps:

• It would raise the minimum wage of tipped employees from the current level of $2.13 per hour to $3.75 per hour 90 days after enactment.
• It would then raise the minimum wage of tipped employees to $5.00 per hour one year after enactment.
• Finally, two years after enactment, the tipped minimum wage would be increased to 70% of minimum wage, but no less than $5.50 per hour.

Thanks for becoming a ROCtivist!

Now that you are ready to take action, please choose from one of the three levels below to get started:

1. Send a letter to your Member of Congress
2. Start a ROC STAR in your community. ROC STARs are local committees of restaurant workers in communities where there is no ROC Affiliate, that focus on policy advocacy and consumer education. Learn more about what ROC STARs do and how to start one by emailing us!

Restaurant Workers Should Not Be Working While Sick !

No one should face the impossible choice of caring for their health or keeping their paycheck or job. But millions of working people must make this decision every time they get sick or a family member needs care. Almost 90% of all restaurant workers don’t have a single paid sick day to recover from common, short‐term illnesses, and two-thirds report cooking, preparing, and serving food while sick. Millions more workers in America lack paid sick days to care for a sick child. At a time when families’ finances are stretched thin and losing a job can mean months of unemployment, working families need a paid sick days standard.

The Healthy Families Act would:

• Allow workers in businesses with 15 or more employees to earn up to seven job-protected paid sick days each year to be used to recover from their own illness, access preventive care, or provide care for a sick family member.
• Allow workers who are victims of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault to use their paid sick days to recover or seek assistance related to an incident.
• Include a simple method for calculating accrued sick time. Workers would earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 56 hours (seven days) per year, unless the employer selects a higher limit.
• Allow employers to require certification if an employee uses more than three paid sick days in a row. For victims of domestic violence, the certification may be from a law enforcement officer or victim advocate.
• Allow employers to continue using their existing policies, as long as they meet the minimums set forth in the Healthy Families Act (for time, types of use, and method of use).

Thanks for becoming a ROCtivist!

Now that you are ready to take action, please choose from one of the three levels below to get started:

1. Send a letter to your Member of Congress; [hyperlink to letter attached]
2. Send a letter to your Member of Congress and make a call to him/her to urge them to support the WAGES Act;[ hyperlink to letter & one pager]
3. Send a letter to your Member of Congress and organize a small delegation to visit the Members’ office; [hyperlink to letter, one pager & packet for Congressional meeting; and/or
4. Start a ROC STAR in your community. ROC STARs are local committees of restaurant workers in communities where there is no ROC Affiliate, that focus on policy advocacy and consumer education. Learn more about what ROC STARs do and how to start one by emailing us!

Consumer Action! Vote with your $$$’s by using the ROC NATIONAL DINERS’ GUIDE 2012!

Want to help build a just and fair restaurant industry? You can practice positive economic impact on the restaurant industry by patronizing businesses that reflect your values – just check out the ROC NATIONAL DINERS’ GUIDE 2011 and sign the pledge to support responsible restaurants!