The Fight for $15 notched another win on June 7 when the D.C. City Council approved a plan to increase the local minimum wage to $15 by 2020. But restaurant servers and other tipped employees were left out of the deal. In a city with a booming restaurant scene, lawmakers plan to increase tipped workers’ minimum wage to only $5 from the current $2.77. Restaurant Opportunities Centers United immediately filed a ballot initiative to put the issue before DC voters in 2018. Restaurant worker Christopher Alvear explains why this fight is so important.
I am a tipped employee at Sonoma Restaurant in Washington, D.C. Money is not stable so I constantly find myself picking up shifts to make up for previous shifts. I have been a tipped worker for over 23 years in the District. As a tipped employee, my wages have been the same for as long as I have been in this profession.
We need to improve the quality of our life. I can’t even afford health insurance, in an environment that puts me, at 43, lifting heavy objects, being an ambassador to our tourists, and also working up to 14 hours a day.
I strongly believe that we deserve nothing less than 100 percent of the minimum wage and that is why we are moving forward with a ballot initiative that gives us full dignity and respect as tipped workers. As our economy is moving forward, as well as prices increasing in everyday living, so should my wages. As a tipped worker, I participate 100 percent in this economy, so why don’t I deserve to be paid 100 percent of what other minimum wage workers make?
If I make a base wage equivalent to the full minimum wage instead of the $2.77 I make now, I could not only have stability in my own day-to-day expenses, but I would also be able to contribute to the economy at a higher rate. Trust me, those of us in the restaurant industry love to eat and drink out when we are not in our own restaurants providing quality service.
Have you ever had to rely solely on the tips you make? Then you would know that it is not possible. Some days, I make $30 in tips and some days I make $150. That is not a calculated risk. I have no way to calculate. We need and deserve stability and the ability to plan ahead.