Tipping is an excellent American custom. In the US, consumers are tipping for services, from luggage handlers at the airport to housekeepers at hotels.
But, according to some analysts, tipping has created an environment in which restaurant servers are subject to sexual harassment and low pay. The pandemic has only exacerbated these problems.
About three-quarters of the top workers in the restaurant industry are women and almost half are black people.
In a study by One Fair Wage and the UC Berkeley Food Labor Research Center, 83% of restaurant workers reported that their advice dropped during the Covid pandemic and more than 40% experienced a change in the frequency of sexual comments. unwanted from customers.
Given that the pandemic has left millions of people doing essential work for low wages, the demands for a minimum wage of $ 15 and the elimination of the so-called sloping minimum wage – the basic wage for many restaurant workers – have been renewed.
Forty-three states, including Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, have a sloping minimum wage for workers, in some cases just $ 2.13 an hour.
However, many in the restaurant industry oppose the proposed changes, saying they will lead to higher menu prices and fewer hours for workers. According to the National Restaurant Association, the pandemic has already affected the industry, eliminating 2.5 million jobs in restaurants and over 110,000 food and drink units in 2020 alone.
Watch the video above to find out what it means for restaurants and their employees the minimum wage of $ 15 and the elimination of the minimum wage.
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