Activists seek end to subminimum wage for tipped workers

One Fair Wage asks a single minimum wage

U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia speaks out against the subminimum wage Monday in Chicago’s Pilsen Neighborhood. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

Politicians joined activists in pushing for an end to the subminimum wage for tipped workers Monday at a protest and march in Chicago.

“The idea that tipped workers should earn less than a living wage has an ugly history in our country,” said U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia of Chicago in a news conference held at Zocalo Plaza on Honorary Cesar Chavez Way in the Pilsen neighborhood. He said it largely affected women and minorities, adding, “We already know that women’s work is undervalued, that Black and Latino work is undervalued as well.”

Garcia said, “Here in Illinois, tipped workers are almost twice as likely to live in poverty as other workers,” a statistic that holds nationally as well, where two-thirds of those making a subminimum wage are women. According to Garcia, African Americans and Hispanics in the field are additionally 40 percent more likely to live in poverty.

“We are better than this,” Garcia declared, “and we demand one fair wage.”

“Black and Brown workers are the leading workers in the restaurant industry,” said Nataki Rhodes, an organizer with the grassroots group One Fair Wage. According to Rhodes, tipped workers in Illinois can be paid as little as $5.55 an hour. Nationally, that figure is just $2.13, and while it’s expected that tips will bring those workers up to at least the minimum wage, the U.S. minimum hasn’t changed in more than a decade and stands at $7.25 an hour.

“Who can live with $5.55 an hour?” Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez said. “No one.”

“Who can live with $5.55 an hour? No one.”

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

The alderman, whose ward includes the historically Hispanic neighborhood of Pilsen, cited racial disparities within the field in which White men make on average $4 more an hour. He said he was out to “make sure every worker is respected, and we have dignified salaries for everyone.”

The Illinois minimum wage is slated to rise to $15 an hour by 2025, but only just rose to $10 last month. Garcia pointed out he voted for a $15-an-hour national minimum wage a year ago when it passed the House, but the legislation has gone nowhere in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.

“We worked hard to raise the minimum wage, and we aren’t about to leave our sisters and brothers in the service industry behind,” he said. “It’s time that we end the injustice of subminimum wage.”

“Restaurant workers, tipped workers are the backbone of the industry,” said state Rep. Theresa Mah of Chicago, who pointed out that her district, including parts of Pilsen, Chinatown, and Bridgeport, has “a lot of neighborhoods with restaurants as the core of their economy.” She pointed out restaurant workers not only deserve a fair wage, but they suffered more during the economic shutdown imposed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic — that is, when they weren’t forced to do their jobs as essential workers.

“Tipped workers are the essential workers,” said Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya, whose district stretches from Pilsen across Chicago’s Southwest Side. Calling the subminimum wage “racist,” she added that 6 million workers nationwide are making $2.13 an hour.

Garcia called for renewed legislation both in Congress and the General Assembly to set a single minimum wage.