Abolish tip differential wages. It is a travesty that employers can pay their workers as little as $2.16 an hour.

It is time to abolish the tip differential wage. All hourly workers in all industries should be paid at least the federal minimum wage. It is a travesty that employers are allowed to pay workers as little as $2.16 and hour. Some states such as California do not allow for reductions of the minimum wage for tipped employees and the industries are doing just fine. Tip differential reductions to the minimum wage are just an easy opportunity for employers to exploit their workers. As a patron in a restaurant I always assumed that my tip to the server was in addition to their minimum wage salary. Not so in most states! Restaurants will frequently average a workers tips over a whole week and pay them just enough so their combined tips and wages meet the minimum wage for the whole pay period.