Waiters left out of latest minimum wage rise

[Tab]

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. service sector employees who receive tips have been excluded from the latest hike in the federal minimum wage that kicked in on Friday, leaving the public to cover the cost of their healthcare, according to economists and advocates.

The federal minimum wage on Friday rose to $7.25 from $6.55. But only seven states guarantee tipped workers the minimum wage, according to a report by the National Employment Law Project, a New York-based advocacy group for low-income workers.

The minimum wage for so-called "tipped" workers has been frozen at $2.13 an hour since 1991, the report found.

Waitresses and waiters, who comprise the majority of tip-receiving workers, have nearly three times the poverty rate of the nation's workforce, it said.

 

[elleng]

1. And this is the first time most of us have heard of this, prolly, eh?

[elleng]

2. And this is the first time most of us have heard of this, prolly, eh?

[sandnsea]

3. Minimum wage was $3 something in the 70s

Tipped workers have been making less than minimum wage before 1991.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. That's what happens when rich people write the laws.

When THEY go out to dinner and leave a $20 tip on a $120 meal, they figure the waiter must be clearing at least $100 a night in tips alone - so why increase that?

But Sallie Mae, out at the Big Wheel Truck Stop, doesn't get $20 tips, or serve $100 meals.

Fuck those guys.