New Threat Emerges to Tip Credit

While we’ve had our eyes on the state budget deliberations, Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC) – the union funded organization driving the campaign to eliminate the minimum wage for tipped foodservice workers – has been busy building support for their proposal to eliminate the tip credit:

• ROC has brought tipped workers to Albany to advocate legislators to eliminate the minimum wage for tipped foodservice workers
• ROC held a press conference in the State Capitol with several state legislators and tipped foodservice workers calling for the elimination of the tip credit
• ROC has activated celebrities to speak out in favor of eliminating the tip credit for foodservice workers including Amy Poehler, Jane Fonda and Hilary Clinton
• ROC has collected tipped foodservice workers’ signatures on an online letter to Governor Cuomo calling for him to eliminate the tip credit for foodservice workers

We can’t allow these attacks to go unanswered! We have got to speak up to Save the Tip Credit or it will disappear. Here’s who you need to contact:

Assembly Labor Committee Chair Marcos Crespo – [email protected]

Senate Labor Committee Chair Jessica Ramos – [email protected]

Let these legislators know that you oppose eliminating the tip credit for food service workers. Explain why you oppose eliminating the tip credit and what it would mean to your business if the tip credit is eliminated. Will you have to lay off employees, will you have to cut hours, will you have to delay maintenance…include this in your message to these officials so they understand the impact of their actions.  If you have employees who are willing to be vocal on the issue please ask them to send an email too. The Labor Chairs will be particularly interested in what impacts and unintended consequences this would have on employees. Make sure you include the bill numbers, S1760 – A1240, so your legislators know exactly what you’re talking about.