Remember to tip your food servers

Original Article: https://theeagle.com/opinion/letters/remember-to-tip-your-food-servers/article_4124053a-4918-11ee-ac41-3f1ca693cbfc.html

  • Author: Rebekah Paxton

  • Publication Date: September 2023

  • Newspaper: The Eagle

If you dine out this Labor Day weekend, remember to tip your server or bartender.

Tips and the tipped wage system allow restaurant workers to earn three to four times the minimum wage, on average. Top earners can bring in $40 or more.

Anti-worker activist groups such as the Restaurant Opportunities Center are spending big to eliminate the tipping system. They oppose it for ideological reasons, and would rather see all tipped workers earn the same flat wage.

But servers and bartenders are fighting back — and they’re winning. Their message is simple: “Don’t mess with our tips.”

This Labor Day, let’s remember to listen to the people who are doing the laboring.