Arts and Culture Update: Saru JAyaraman, Before You Eat Out...July 22, 2018
On July 22, 2018, the Arts and Culture Committee hosted the engaging and energetic, Saru Jayaraman, founding president of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United) and Director of UC Berkeley’s Food Labor Research Center. She shared with the audience the big challenges of those who cook and serve our food: from America’s lowest legal wages ($2.13/hr. in 42 states since 1991) to the highest sexual harassment rate in any U.S. industry.
Fortunately, ROC United is making great strides, thanks to the growing number of restaurant owners, workers and diners all working together through ROC to secure OneFairWage. ROC’s recent big win in September? See their announcement below for the news!
Dear Friends,
After today’s vote in the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate, One Fair Wage is now the law in 8 states (MI, NV, CA, AK, MT, MN, WA, and OR) and two municipalities, Washington, DC and Flagstaff, AZ.
The Michigan legislature adopted the full language of the minimum wage ballot initiative backed up by more than 400,000 signatures. With this legislative action, the exploitative subminimum tipped wage is scheduled to be phased out in the Union’s 8th state. Voters in Washington, DC and Flagstaff, AZ passed similar citizen-led initiatives, gradually increasing the wage for tipped workers to the full minimum wage.
This is a historic moment for the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and its One Fair Wage campaign--a project that educates about and advocates for raising the subminimum tipped wage to the full minimum wage across 43 states, some of which still pay tipped workers an unimaginable $2.13 per hour. With 66 percent of tipped workers being women, many of them women of color and immigrants, One Fair Wage promotes economic, social, gender, and racial justice, lifting up voices of some of the most disadvantaged workforce in the country.
While the many frivolous lawsuits, dark-money funded campaigns, and underhanded schemes to circumvent voters are on the daily menu, this is a victory led by and for workers. “Raising wages of all workers is a widely popular issue across the country, political lines, and industries. As a justice issue, it inspires voters to come to the ballot box, shaping electoral politics. This is why corporate establishment doesn’t want to see One Fair Wage or any minimum wage initiative on the ballot,” said Saru Jayaraman, ROC United president and co-founder. She added, “Those, who are trying to stop the One Fair Wage movement do so not out of fear that the full minimum wage wouldn’t work in the restaurant industry, but because it does work. This legacy of slavery of paying some workers less than the full minimum wage must and will end.”
In response to today’s legislative action, Michigan One Fair Wage campaign manager Pete Vargas issued the following statement:
“On behalf of the over one million workers and their families who will receive a raise, Michigan One Fair Wage is declaring victory in spurring the House to raise the minimum wage to $12 for all workers, including tipped workers who currently earn a subminimum wage of $3.52 an hour. This legislation would not have passed without the more than 400,000 Michigan voters who signed petitions demanding that One Fair Wage be on this November’s ballot.
“We are well aware of the House leadership’s intent in adopting this measure. They hope to suppress voter turnout among workers, people of color and immigrants by keeping the measure off the ballot, and then gut the legislation during the lame duck session. We will fight these efforts in two ways.
“First, we will continue to pursue intensive voter turnout activities – especially among workers and people of color – to demonstrate the people’s mandate that the minimum wage measure not be amended. Michigan One Fair Wage will make all Michigan voters aware of some legislators’ intent to keep them from voting, and to undermine the will of the people. Second, we will sue the legislature if it moves to amend the legislation in lame duck. Doing so would violate the Michigan Constitution, which disallows the legislature from adopting a measure and then amending it in the same legislative session. We can declare victory now because there is no legal way to amend the legislation this year.
“The newly-passed One Fair Wage legislation will raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour for all workers. Over one million workers and their families will benefit from this proposal, with higher incomes and greater ability to contribute to the Michigan economy.”