U.S. restaurant workers target low wages
in campaign against sexual harassment
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[February 14, 2018]
By Lisa Baertlein
(Reuters) - Restaurant workers in seven
U.S. cities on Tuesday lobbied state and local lawmakers to combat
sexual harassment in the industry by shifting from the $2.13 federal
minimum wage for tipped employees to a higher "fair" wage.
Some 70 percent of workers who receive tips in addition to their hourly
pay in the United States are women.
The combination of low hourly pay and dependence on customer gratuities
makes them particularly vulnerable to harassment from customers and
colleagues, said Saru Jayaraman, president of the Restaurant
Opportunities Centers United (ROC) which advocates for better working
conditions.
Women workers earning their state's full minimum wage before tips
reported half the rate of sexual harassment as women in the states that
pay $2.13 per hour, according to a study from ROC, which has called on
lawmakers to follow the lead of California, Washington, Nevada and four
other states that pay the more generous "fair" wage.
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"This is not about sex, this is about power," said Jayaraman. "When you
shift the power balance ... sexual harassment gets cut in half."
Seventeen states, including New Jersey and Texas, as well as the
District of Columbia pay tipped workers $2.13, a federal minimum wage
that has not changed in more than two decades. New York, Florida and the
remaining states pay somewhere in between.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is among the lawmakers already weighing a
move to the higher "fair" wage.
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![](../images/021418pics/news_J21.jpg)
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United Seattle intern Meena
Vasudevan holds a sign in support of better federal wages during a
#NotOntheMenu rally demanding an end to sexual harassment and to
bring awareness to the federal subminimum wage of $2.13 an hour in
the restaurant industry in Seattle, Washington, U.S. February 13,
2018. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
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ROC's national day of action on Tuesday included rallies in
Philadelphia, Seattle and Oakland, as well as actions in Washington,
D.C., Detroit, New Orleans and Oakland, California.
The restaurant industry, which employs half of American women at
some point in their lives, has an advantage over other industries
when it comes to addressing sexual harassment because it was already
advocating for a clear policy solution when the #MeToo social media
movement against harassment gained momentum late last year, said
Jayaraman.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles)
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