On the August 13th, 2014 edition of Your Call, we’ll have a conversation about the history and cultural practice of tipping. The federal tipped minimum wage is only $2.13 an hour, and tipped workers are 3 times as likely to live in poverty. Is working for tips a way to boost compensation for great service? Or does it open the door for exploitation, by employers and customers? If you work for tips, would you prefer an alternative? It’s Your Call, with Matt Martin, and you.
Guests:
Saru Jayaraman, co-founder and co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and Director of the UC Berkeley Food Labor Research Center, Author of Behind The Kitchen Door
Jay Porter, restaurant owner and manager
Andrew Haley, associate professor at the University of Southern Mississippi
Web Resources:
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
New York Times - Why Tip?
Backstory Web Extra: A Tipping Nation, from “Fair Wages”
Slate - What Happens When You Abolish Tipping
New York Times - Proposal to Raise Tip Wages Resisted
NPR - For Tipped Workers, A Different Minimum Wage Battle
Bloomberg - Waitresses Stuck at $2.13 Hourly Minimum for 22 Years
WYNC Freakonomics Podcast: Should Tipping be Banned?
MotherJones - The Minimum Wage Loophole That’s Screwing Over Waiters and Waitresses
ROC United - Gender Inequity in the Restaurant Industry