Ending Subminimum Wage: Saru Jayaraman

OCCUPY!: An Unfinished Uprising · Nov 25, 2021 · 38m

The Legacy of the Subminimum Wage

The devaluation of Black lives and women's work is at the heart of the subminimum wage. Until the 1850s, restaurant workers were white men who were unionized and were tipped on top of a living wage. But business owners started hiring women and black people for free, making them rely on tips to make their living. This means that the customer—instead of the employer—is responsible for paying the worker. A century and a half later, the subminimum wage has increased to only $2.13.

Tipped Work in the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how precarious tipped…