Federal and state minimum wages are supposed to protect workers from poverty -- that's why when the cost of living increases, the minimum wage is raised. We raised it in 1991, in 2009, and President Obama has proposed another increase to help the thousands of families whose minimum wage incomes aren't enough to pay for food and shelter.
But because of a deal lobbyists made with Congress, the minimum wage for waitresses and other workers who are tipped is still frozen at only $2.13 an hour. As a result, restaurant servers have 3 times the poverty rate of the rest of the US workforce. More than 70% of servers are women, and many are single mothers.
This needs to stop. In your plans to raise the minimum wage, we demand a promise not to cut out tipped workers.