Eternity RPC Board
03-03-2017, 03:40 AM
Harry Skoglund - NL
I'm very familiar with these arguments against a separate minimum wage for tipping industries, yet they continually ignore the fact that these are industries that operate very close to the margins, and are highly sensitive to changes in wage laws. As a matter of fact, any 10% increase in a mandated minimum wage has been shown to have a 5% reduction in worked hours for those employees. Forcing increases has already been shown to directly increase consumer prices, and reduce available jobs in these industries as employers, already hard-pressed to stay in the black, are squeezed even harder and forced to cut positions. We're already looking at a 40% increase in the mandatory wage for all tipped workers; surely anyone here can understand the kind of impact that increase is already going to have upon such jobs.
Furthermore, I'm not surprised that I still have to continually hear about the lie of the "enslaved" or "exploited" service worker. Oh trust me, I already know that they work long hours to less pay than their underappreciated work deserves, but to equate tipping to slavery is disingenuous at best:
Tipped employees in East Alden, which has the lowest average state-wide wage for tipped workers and currently sits at the current mandatory minimum wage for tipped employees, take home an average wage of $12.88 state-wide; meanwhile, Nyflåland has the highest mandatory minimum wage in the country at $9.47, and yet the average take-home wage state-wide is $13.25 an hour...in either case, that's more than 50% above the current minimum wage, with real tipped wages across the entire country comfortably above the new proposed minimum.
Where, then, is this fabled "slavery?" There are of course crooked employers, but like all crooks, their actions are just as illegal under the new law as they are already under the old, and if you really want to help workers being taken advantage of, then I recommend looking at how to better enforce the labor laws we have, as that is really where our failings lie.
However, one important point was brought up: tipping income is highly volatile, relying upon factors that are often well beyond the employee or employer's control, and thus such employees should be protected against certain trends that could seriously hurt their livelihoods. I thus want to propose a compromise, in the form of the following amendment and addition:
I'm very familiar with these arguments against a separate minimum wage for tipping industries, yet they continually ignore the fact that these are industries that operate very close to the margins, and are highly sensitive to changes in wage laws. As a matter of fact, any 10% increase in a mandated minimum wage has been shown to have a 5% reduction in worked hours for those employees. Forcing increases has already been shown to directly increase consumer prices, and reduce available jobs in these industries as employers, already hard-pressed to stay in the black, are squeezed even harder and forced to cut positions. We're already looking at a 40% increase in the mandatory wage for all tipped workers; surely anyone here can understand the kind of impact that increase is already going to have upon such jobs.
Furthermore, I'm not surprised that I still have to continually hear about the lie of the "enslaved" or "exploited" service worker. Oh trust me, I already know that they work long hours to less pay than their underappreciated work deserves, but to equate tipping to slavery is disingenuous at best:
Tipped employees in East Alden, which has the lowest average state-wide wage for tipped workers and currently sits at the current mandatory minimum wage for tipped employees, take home an average wage of $12.88 state-wide; meanwhile, Nyflåland has the highest mandatory minimum wage in the country at $9.47, and yet the average take-home wage state-wide is $13.25 an hour...in either case, that's more than 50% above the current minimum wage, with real tipped wages across the entire country comfortably above the new proposed minimum.
Where, then, is this fabled "slavery?" There are of course crooked employers, but like all crooks, their actions are just as illegal under the new law as they are already under the old, and if you really want to help workers being taken advantage of, then I recommend looking at how to better enforce the labor laws we have, as that is really where our failings lie.
However, one important point was brought up: tipping income is highly volatile, relying upon factors that are often well beyond the employee or employer's control, and thus such employees should be protected against certain trends that could seriously hurt their livelihoods. I thus want to propose a compromise, in the form of the following amendment and addition:
Quote:Section 3: Exceptions
5. For work and industries where the practice of "tipping" is common, where accumulated wages and tips for any employees do not meet or exceed the federal minimum wage (or state minimum wage, whichever is higher) for any pay period, then the employer shall increase wages for that pay period to compensate, in an amount where the employee's new accumulated wages and tips meet or exceed the minimum wage.