Workers call for pay hike
Ariz. minimum wage too low to live on, group says
A small group of about a dozen people gathered in the parking lot behind Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s Phoenix office on Monday to demand a $15 per hour minimum wage for all workers in Arizona.
Several gave speeches and chanted throughout the event to share their personal stories as business owners or tipped workers and why they support raising minimum and subminimum wages in Arizona, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was hosting (Tuesday) and I went home with $4. I went home and cried myself to sleep,” said Haley Holland, who works in the dining industry in Phoenix and is a new organizer for One Fair Wage.
She said that since the pandemic she estimates tips have been cut in half due to closures, restrictions and attitudes toward masks.
The Phoenix rally was one of several
events across the nation to celebrate the Raise the Wage Act, which was introduced by House and Senate Democrats Jan. 26 as part of the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan.
Protesters from groups such as One Fair Wage, Living United for Change in Arizona, Arizona Jews for Justice, business owners and workers at the Phoenix rally said the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated treatment of minimum wage and tipped workers.
Holland said it’s difficult to make $9 an hour and not get tips when she asks customers to wear masks due to COVID-19 requirements in restaurants. When she asks customers to put on their mask, Holland said this sometimes results in no tips.
Masks also make serving and hosting difficult since people can’t see her face, she said.
Holland and others at the rally emphasized that working for tips can also create uncomfortable environments for women, who are sometimes harassed by customers.
“It’s accepting atrocious behavior, it’s accepting risking my life and hoping that I’m going to get a livable wage and that I’m going to get enough money to live and continue paying my bills that day,” Holland said.
Arizona’s current minimum wage is $12.15 an hour
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 and the federal wage for tipped workers is $2.13, though several cities and states have voted in the past few years to gradually increase their minimum wages to $15.
Right now, 29 states have minimum wages higher than the federal requirement, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Arizona’s minimum wage — which already had risen four times in the past four years and ranks among the nation’s highest — increased by 15 cents to $12.15 an hour this year. Employers may pay servers and other tipped workers up to $3 an hour less than the minimum wage if tip income at least makes up the difference.
Some cities have adopted higher minimums including Flagstaff, where the 2020 minimum of $13 an hour rose to $15 in January.
A federal minimum wage increase
has not passed for more than 10 years and a federal increase for tipped workers has not increased since 1991.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 2% of hourly paid workers, or 1.6 million workers, made at or below the federal minimum wage in 2019.
Under the Raise the Wage Act, federal minimum wage would gradually increase to $15 per hour by 2025.
Wages for tipped workers would also increase to $15 by 2027 and would guarantee $15 an hour for all workers, including people who currently make subminimum wage such as youth workers and workers with disabilities, according to the Education and Labor committee.
Congress has made attempts in the last decade to raise the federal minimum wage, but nothing passed. The Raise the Wage Act was passed through the House in 2019, but did not pass through Senate.
Opponents of increasing minimum wage say that this could hurt small businesses and force them to lay off employees.
President Joe Biden recently said his proposal to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour is unlikely to make it into the final $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package after negotiations with Congress.
Small business owner: ‘I know what the struggle was like’
At about 10:30 a.m., the Phoenix rally was featured in a live-stream of the national event, which aired on Service Employees International Union’s Facebook page in partnership with One Fair Wage and the Poor People’s Campaign.
Other cities that held rallies across the U.S. include Washington D.C., Denver, San Francisco, Chicago and New York.
Jessica Bueno, co-owner of Xanadu Coffee Co. in Phoenix, attended the rally in support of $15 minimum wage and to pressure others to support the act as well, she said.
“It’s time we start pushing Congress to make that decision,” she said. “As an employer and employee that, most
of my career was in service industry, I know what the struggle was like and how it is not feeling worthy enough.”
Bueno said her coffee shop already pays her baristas a starting wage of $15 an hour, but understands this isn’t a livable wage in Phoenix.
“I really value our employees and I value the skill sets that hospitality workers have and I think it’s time we start paying them and respecting them, especially during this pandemic.”
Bueno and Holland said raising the minimum wage isn’t just about money, but investing in employees and taking care of them.
“As an employer myself, I am willing to make that investment into my employees,” Bueno said. “I know if I show them that I care, they in return take care of my business, they take care of my product. It’s more of a collaborative effort and that’s why I want to make sure they know they’re valued and part of the family.”