Restaurant workers in New York currently earn 66% of the minimum wage before tips, and several state lawmakers want to change that.
About a dozen state senators and assembly members took orders and served lunch Monday afternoon to restaurant workers from New York City who came up to the Capitol for the day.
They switched places with people in the service industry to raise awareness for One Fair Wage legislation, which was reintroduced to phase out the subminimum wage for tipped workers over five years.
"Our working-class communities are suffering and struggling, but we can't leave our tipped workers behind," sponsor Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas said. "We can't leave our restaurant workers behind. So I'm actually pretty hopeful that we're going to be able to push for this this year."
The bill would establish a grant program for restaurants to afford raising wages for workers as soon as possible, and a business plan going forward.
It would also allow for tips to be shared between workers in the front of the house and back of the house of a restaurant, which is currently illegal in New York.
González-Rojas, a Queens Democrat, is confident this will be the year a plan to phase out the subminimum wage is included in the state budget after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced her support to tie the minimum wage to inflation in her State of the State address Jan. 10.
Estefania Galvis, an organizer with One Fair Wage, formerly worked as a server and bartender in New York City. She...
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