AOC: Tipped workers need higher minimum wage
Former bartender gets back behind counter in Jackson Heights to promote federal bill
BY MARK HALLUM
C o n g r e s s w o m a n
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
revisited her bartending days
in a May 31 event with the
Restaurant Opportunities
Center United to promote a
federal law that will raise
the minimum wage for tipped
wage earners.
As if to add insult to injury,
the organizers of the event
also chose the Queensboro
at 80-02 Northern Blvd as
the host, which served as
the venue for Joe Crowley’s
victory party the night the
Queens “king-maker” was
toppled by Ocasio-Cortez.
The location was a
different restaurant at
the time.
Ocasio-Cortez, slinging
drinks for patrons,
highlighted the hardships
of depending on tips as a
main source of income as
a bartender herself just
months before winning the
June 2018 primary.
“I worked in restaurants
for four years … When we talk
about the need for a fair wage,
it is so real the amount of
exploitation and harassment
and labor violations that you
will endure for benefits of
tipped work,” Ocasio-Cortez
said. “It is not enough to
just be a land of freedom,
but we have to live up to that
value. We have to be a land of
economic freedom.”
Ocasio-Cortez described
her experience joining the
restaurant industry after
graduating college as a
prospect more stable than
other jobs that required a
four-year degree, but the
“economic desperation” of
needing to take shifts that
ended at 3 a.m. in order to
make rent was difficult to
cope with.
The Raise the Wage Act,
which Ocasio-Cortez is
sponsoring, aims to bring the
federal minimum to $15 in an
attempt to follow seven states
across the country that have
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a look back at her
years bartending at an event advocating for wage increases for
tipped workers. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
mandated that employers of
tipped wage earners meet the
state wage standards.
According to ROC United,
this will mean restaurant
workers, a majority of whom
are women of color, will no
longer depend on customers
for their income. The
organization claims this will
free not only servers, but also
nail salon technicians and
car wash attendants from
obligations to accept negative
treatment, discrimination
and even sexual harassment.
Other speakers at the
event also explained how they
often get sexually harassed
by customers and employers.
One server who identified
herself as Aisha, a single
mom, works as both a
massage therapist and
waitress. But while she is
paid well enough to save
some money and enjoys her
work, she feels as though her
dependency on tips leaves
her vulnerable to situations
other workers do not have to
worry about as much.
“I’ve experienced sexual
harassment coworkers,
customers and management.
I’ve felt pressured for
dates. I’ve been asked for
my phone number. I’ve had
to endure constant sexual
jokes, suggestive looks
and gestures,” Aisha said.
“Because I’m paid largely
through tips, a manager has
even suggested that in order
to increase my tips I should
wear more makeup.”
Read more at QNS.com.
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