Tell the NY Labor Commissioner You Support a Raise for Tipped Workers
by Mitchell Hirsch
The nearly 230,000 workers in New York State who are forced to rely on tips for basic income, instead of having a fair and reliable base wage, could see a raise in the tipped minimum wage as a step toward eliminating the subminimum wage for tipped workers. Currently, the minimum wage for tipped food service workers if just $5 per hour, and only $5.65 for other tipped service workers. Earlier this month, the state’s Wage Board recommended increasing the minimum wage for tipped workers to $7.50 by the end of 2015 — and to $8.50 in New York City if the city’s minimum wage is raised above the state level — and consider eliminating the subminimum tipped wage in the future.
Those recommendations are awaiting action by the Acting Labor Commissioner, Mario Musolino, who is now accepting public comments prior to issuing any new wage orders.
The time to act is now! Click the action link below, from the Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC United), to send your message to the Acting Labor Commissioner in New York State now.
Tell the Acting Labor Commissioner you support a raise of New York’s tipped workers as step toward eliminating the subminimum wage entirely. Tell him to raise the wage for tipped workers, set a path toward #1FairWage, and to not allow any harmful loopholes that would enable employers to pay less than the newly-established wage floor.