Saturday Morning Thoughts on Restaurant Workers Rights

After the storm this weekend and having to go into work at the peak of the storm, I’ve been giving some deep thought to the changes that need to be made in terms of pay and service in the restaurant industry.

Despite working at one of the busiest restuarants in the city, as a server you still understand the economic and laborous struggle (constant moving, lifting heavy items, carrying & balancing plates of food and drinks, menu study and understanding of food and drink preparations and ingredients, allergies (so we dont kill anyone tableside), creating a table space for intimate moments for families & freinds, providing city wide know how for visiting tourists, dealing with sexual harassment and dumb racist shit people say table side, which I foundly call teachable moments. Not to mention the trust involved in giving someone a card with personal account information to charge you for your meal.

There is a lot of intimacy and trust that happens on the floor of a restaurant and its important for this to be recognized and compensated at that level. As servers we deliver the information and experience. The folks on the floor are your touch points for the type of people that associate with an establishment and the quality of character that they hold. Which is both a reflection of the person and of the establishment.

I think people often wonder how Boston restaurateurs have built empires, its because what they are obligated to pay their workers, borders on ‘prison wage.’ And yes, for many this is the system that they were ‘born’ into, what they know in terms of structure & how to make a profit, but that is not to say that the system can not or should not change.

For folks who dont know restaurant servers in Massachusetts are paid $3.75 an hour aka we live entirely off our tips alone. It costs restaurants about $9 per pay period to have us on ‘payroll’ about $3000 - $6000 on health care per worker annually. Some employers split health care cost with their employees. I am not sure as it if our cost is split at my place of employment; however about I am about to be paying approx. $2400 annually for health care.

On a lunch shift this week I averaged $35 in tips working 5 hours with an average of 18% gratuity. That is $7 an hour. I have a master’s degree, I have close to $50,000 of student debt, I live in Boston in an older house with 6 roommates with Boston priced utilities. I have been educated on the value of local economy and healthy foods and try to support and eat as local and healthy as possible and within my means, but healthy food options is expensive, access in Roxbury is limited. (Roxbury is both where I choose and where I currently can afford to live) I have worked in some form of service or nonprofit industry my whole life. I was taught that despite odds and cost to strive to give back and to remain educated and open. My parents live in Montana, in their mid 60s, work as an independent contractor and receptionist & florist, and have been struggling to keep their home. I can say that most of my coworkers are in a similar space. I did not come from money, I came from a family of paycheck to paycheck or as my contractor father says, “job to job.”

I say all of this to not stand as a victim, but to be real on this issue. A value of a person is not a reflection of what they make, but rather what they do with thier time and the impact that they have.

I have had shifts where I have made between $30-$40 per hour. On average, Its about $27 per hour after tip out to our food runners & busers. But I have also worked in spaces where the $7 an hour with maybe one lucky night a week is the norm.

I’m a professional in my field(s) and its important for restaurant workers who all are a certain type of specialist are paid a negotiated rate between them and the restaurant owners. Aka Restaurant owners should make up the difference in what is not made in tips to reach a negotiated salary rate. If the demad of professionalism is so high than it’s not only on the customers, but the owners to make that same investment in their employees for both their time, skill and expertise.

This demands more of the worker in terms of background and knowlege on product and sales, but it also holds the restaurant owners accountable in terms of situations such as choosing to be open during a blizzard or on their approach of marketing and promotion of the restaurant (in which restaurant workers should also be held accountable in doing the same).